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Yoga for Happiness: The Neurochemistry Behind the Happiness

Longevity Yoga
Oct 14
3 min read

I have noticed that I feel much happier after yoga, and I see the same in other people: they leave class with visibly happy expressions. I decided to research how yoga influences the state of happiness.

Three brain chemicals are most often linked to happiness: endorphins, serotonin and dopamine. I searched for sound studies of yoga's effect on each, looking for blood tests and brain imaging rather than questionnaires. Here is what I found.

Dopamine: motivation and reward

The most direct evidence is for dopamine. A 2002 PET (positron emission tomography) study by Kjaer and colleagues found that yoga nidra increased dopamine release in the ventral striatum, a core reward region, by about 65 percent compared with a control condition of listening to speech with eyes closed. The sample was only eight experienced practitioners, and studies comparing dopamine after yoga with other exercise are still lacking.

Serotonin: stability and wellbeing

Mood is influenced directly by serotonin made in the brain, not by the much larger share made in the gut, which cannot cross into the brain, so I looked only at studies of the brain. Brain serotonin is difficult to measure in living people, so direct evidence is limited. One indirect finding comes from brain imaging. The raphe nuclei in the brainstem are the main source of serotonin, and they sit in an area that also contains the locus coeruleus, the main source of norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that regulates alertness. After an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course, MRI showed increased gray matter in this brainstem area (Singleton 2014). This was a small study of a mindfulness course, not yoga, and a structural change does not prove that serotonin or norepinephrine rose however they have affect on the stractural changes in the brain area where it is produced.

Endorphins: natural relief

Evidence for endorphins is more limited. Yadav and colleagues (2012) measured blood beta-endorphin in 86 patients before and after a 10-day yoga-based lifestyle programme and reported that it increased, while the inflammation markers IL-6 and TNF-alpha fell. The study had no control group, and the programme included lectures and lifestyle advice as well as postures and breathing, so the effect cannot be attributed to yoga alone. A randomised trial of laughter yoga in dialysis patients found no significant change, so more research is needed.

Yoga effect on depression and anxiety

Beyond neurotransmitters, the best evidence for yoga and mood comes from randomised trials, which measure depression and anxiety with rating scales. A 2013 meta-analysis by Cramer and colleagues found moderate evidence that yoga reduces depression in the short term compared with usual care, limited evidence of benefit compared with relaxation and aerobic exercise, and limited evidence of lower anxiety compared with relaxation. A 2021 meta-analysis by Brinsley and colleagues, covering 13 trials with 632 people with diagnosed mental disorders, found a moderate reduction in depressive symptoms, larger with more yoga sessions per week. A 2023 meta-analysis in Frontiers in Psychiatry reached similar conclusions for major depressive disorder, including anxiety, but rated the quality of evidence as low to moderate. A 2017 review found conflicting results when yoga was added to antidepressants. Overall, yoga appears to be a useful complement to professional care, not a replacement for it.

What this means for your practice

Yoga does not flip a single happiness switch. It engages several systems at once through movement, breath, attention and community. The research is promising rather than conclusive; the best-supported finding is that regular practitioners report feeling better.

Yoga is a complement to, not a replacement for, professional mental health care. Research suggests it can moderately reduce depressive symptoms and anxiety.

References

  • Kjaer TW, Bertelsen C, Piccini P, Brooks D, Alving J, Lou HC (2002). Increased dopamine tone during meditation-induced change of consciousness. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 13(2):255-259. PubMed

  • Singleton O, Hölzel BK, Vangel M, Brach N, Carmody J, Lazar SW (2014). Change in brainstem gray matter concentration following a mindfulness-based intervention is correlated with improvement in psychological well-being. Front Hum Neurosci 8:33. PubMed Central

  • Yadav RK, Magan D, Mehta N, Sharma R, Mahapatra SC (2012). Efficacy of a short-term yoga-based lifestyle intervention in reducing stress and inflammation: preliminary results. J Altern Complement Med 18(7):662-667. PubMed

  • Effects of laughter yoga on hemodialysis patients' plasma-beta endorphin levels, pain levels and sleep quality: a randomized controlled trial. ScienceDirect

  • Cramer H, Lauche R, Langhorst J, Dobos G (2013). Yoga for depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Depress Anxiety 30(11):1068-1083. Abstract

  • Brinsley J, Schuch F, Lederman O, et al. (2021). Effects of yoga on depressive symptoms in people with mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. Abstract

  • Effectiveness of yoga for major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Psychiatry (2023). Full text

  • A systematic review of yoga for major depressive disorder. J Affect Disord 2017;213:70-77. Abstract

 
 
 

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