Effect of a period of selected yoga exercises on serum levels of serotonin and dopamine in non-athlete obese women

Serotonin and dopamine are the effective monoamine neurotransmitters in controlling emotions and appetite. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of selected yoga exercises on serum levels of serotonin and dopamine in non-athlete obese women. In this quasi-experimental research, 20 non-athlete obese women with body mass index equal or greater than 30 kg/m2 and age range 25-35 years old volunteered to participate in the study. The subjects were divided randomly into two equal groups including control (regular life) and experimental (yoga exercises) groups. The experimental group did 8 weeks selected yoga exercises, 3 sessions per week and each session lasted 60-75 minutes. Before and after intervention, blood samples were collected from cubital vein at 12 h. fasting state. Serum levels of serotonin and dopamine were determined using by ELISA method. Data were analyzed using the paired t-test and ANCOVA at the significant level of p<0.05. Eight weeks selected yoga exercises lead to significant increases in serum levels of serotonin (p=0.02) and dopamine (p=0.0001) in experimental group while they did not change significantly in the control group. It seems that yoga exercises may have positive effects on some neurotransmitters affecting appetite and food intake behaviors in obese women.