Archive · 14 Jan 2026
Yoga aids opioid withdrawal recovery
Yoga can help people recovering from opioid addiction feel better and recover faster.
Opioid withdrawal can cause many unpleasant symptoms like anxiety, insomnia, and pain.
A study found that people who did yoga along with their regular treatment got better much faster.
They also had better heart rate, less anxiety, better sleep, and less pain.
The researchers think yoga helps by calming the nervous system, which regular treatments might not do as well.
This could be a big help for people trying to overcome opioid addiction.
Yoga can aid in the recovery of people with opioid withdrawal, improving anxiety, sleep, and pain.
Opioid withdrawal symptoms include physical and autonomic signs like diarrhoea, insomnia, fever, pain, anxiety, and depression.
A study led by NIMHANS and Harvard Medical School found that yoga significantly enhanced opioid withdrawal recovery.
Participants who received yoga alongside standard treatment achieved withdrawal stabilisation 4.4 times faster than controls.
Yoga improved heart rate variability, anxiety, sleep, and pain measures in participants.
- Who
- Researchers from NIMHANS, Bengaluru and Harvard Medical School, US
- What
- Yoga aids in opioid withdrawal recovery and improves anxiety, sleep, and pain
- When
- Study conducted and published in 2022
- Where
- India and US
- Why
- To evaluate yoga as an adjuvant therapy to accelerate opioid withdrawal recovery
- Study Leaders
- NIMHANS, Bengaluru and Harvard Medical School, US
- Participants
- 59 male participants with opioid use disorder
- Yoga Group
- 30 participants
- Control Group
- 29 participants
- Recovery Time
- 4.4 times faster with yoga
- Improvements
- Heart rate variability, anxiety, sleep, and pain
- Publication
- JAMA Psychiatry