A new “yoga pill” might help patients with anxiety disorders “focus, breathe, and center,” assisting with the physical manifestations of mental distress.
Many people with conditions like panic disorders or PTSD swear by yoga and breathing exercises as coping strategies, but many also rely on medications to function. Now, a new anti-anxiety drug might combine both forms of relief, offering an alternative to drugs like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
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Dr. Sung Han, an associate professor at Salk Institute, explained that he and his research team discovered a pathway between the frontal cortex and the brainstem that helps control conscious breathing.
“By turning on that, activating this certain population of neuron, we saw that the breathing rate is dramatically decreased and also the anxiety state was also decreased,” Han told NBC 7. “By targeting this specific pathway, we can develop specific drugs that only alleviate the anxiety, not causing other serious side effects.”
Today, many individuals find relief from their mental health conditions using medications like SSRIs. However, these drugs typically come with daunting side effects, such as dizziness, drowsiness, sleep disturbances, and gastrointestinal issues in some cases. Dr. Han noted that this is because these meds act “everywhere in the brain” while the yoga pill would only target a specific pathway.
Those with serious mental health conditions often have to rely on what’s available to them, as disorders like PTSD can be debilitating without treatment. This new pill would present a new option to them and potentially address the symptoms—like rapid breathing—of such conditions without the nasty side effects.
“When you’re anxious, like me, then you take deep breaths,” Dr. Han told NBC 7. “But in case we cannot do it, then maybe we can, we need to seek a medication.”
