Heated yoga may help depression, and the benefit grows with each class.
STUDY: Copeland DI et al, J Affect Disord 2026;405:121647
STUDY TYPE: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial
FUNDING: Sekisui House Ltd, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Tiny Blue Dot Foundation
Background
Ten years ago a major psychiatric journal published a surprising trial. Heating up the body treated depression with a large effect in people who didn’t respond to antidepressants. Now, research is picking up on that, combining the original method (whole-body hyperthermia) with psychotherapy, or heating the body through baths or — in this new trial — hot yoga.
The potential mechanisms of brief heating are many, including lower inflammation and deepened sleep.
The Study
Eighty adults with moderate-to-severe depression were randomized to 8 weeks of community-based heated yoga (90-minute sessions, at least twice weekly) or a waitlist. Both groups eventually completed the yoga intervention, and data from both phases were pooled to examine the relationship between class attendance and change in clinician-rated depressive symptoms.
Each additional class attended corresponded to a 0.72-point improvement in IDS-CR scores — a linear relationship that held after adjusting for age, sex, education, and baseline severity (effect size Cohen’s d = 1.27). There was no plateau across the observed range of 0–30 classes. Baseline depression severity didn’t modify the effect, and concurrent antidepressant use made no difference.
Limitations: Small sample (65) of highly educated adults; also waitlist is not a fair comparison.
Practice Implications
- If your patient is doing heated yoga, ask how it affects their mood.
- But before recommending it, consider risks. Hot yoga carries risks of dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, heat exhaustion, and rare but fatal heat stroke. Hot baths also come with risks — fainting from blood pressure drops, and should be avoided in pregnant women and people with active skin disease. Bathing over 20 minutes in hot water increases risk of infection.
— Chris Aiken, MD
Director, Psych Partners
Editor in Chief, Carlat Psychiatry Report
