New Hot Yoga Research: A Good Start, But Needs More Work

A new study on hot yoga sponsored by the non-profit American Council for Exercise is getting a lot of attention for supposedly proving that hot yoga is safe because it doesn't raise your core body temperature, but there are a lot more pieces in the hot yoga puzzle. Let's take a closer look.
First, it's great to see yoga research in the news. This study monitored the heart rates and core temperatures (through a sensor that each participant swallowed, woah!) of subjects doing a 60 minute yoga class in a 70 degree room. The next day, they did an identical class in a 92 degree room and then the results were compared. Neither the heart rates nor the core temperatures of the subjects were significantly affected by the additional 22 degrees, which are both very interesting finds. My quibble here is that neither temperature very accurately reflects actual studio experiences. Seventy is pretty chilly for a standard yoga class, and 92 is still temperate compared to where some hot yoga classes go. In fact, when we surveyed the temperature of hot yoga classes of six styles popular in the U.S., including Bikram, we only found one (not Bikram) that offered classes at 92 degrees or below. So I'd love to see this research extended to include more realistic conditions in the future.

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