A recent study showed that yoga can help in reducing the frequency of seizures or attacks among patients suffering from refractory epilepsy. According to statistics, 55 lakh to 78 lakh Indians suffer from epilepsy. The recent study was conducted by neurologist Dr Rajesh B Iyer under the guidance of Dr K Radhakrishnan, HoD of Neurology at FCTIMST and yoga guru, G Mohan Das of Yoga Centre for Health Research, Varkala.

Dr Rajesh said that the premise of the study was to check whether yoga helps in reducing the frequency of epileptic seizures. He added that the study involved 20 patients and six months into the study all of them reported reduction in attacks.

During study the epileptic patients were made to follow a specially designed module under which they were made to do 20 minutes of meditation both in the morning and evening, under supervision. Along with meditation the yoga practices such as 'suryanamaskar', 'ardhakati', 'salabhasana', 'shavasana' and 'pranayam' were also made part of their daily routine.

Dr Rajesh said, "Yoga importantly helps the epileptics on whom medicine does not work and for whom surgery is not suitable. Yoga helps to improve the alpha activity in the brain and reduces the frequency of seizures."