The Role of Yogic Lifestyle and Balanced Nutrition in Preventing Lifestyle Diseases

Authors & Affiliations

* Corresponding Author. Author contact details are available in the published PDF article as per journal policy.

Abstract

India is currently witnessing a critical surge in lifestyle diseases (LDs), including Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, and obesity, driven by rapid urbanization, sedentary behaviors, and a nutritional shift towards processed, high-calorie foods. This paper examines the preventive potential of integrating a comprehensive Yogic lifestyle with balanced nutrition to mitigate this public health crisis. The study analyzes the physiological and psychological mechanisms of Yoga—encompassing Asanas, Pranayama, and the ethical disciplines of Yama and Niyama—demonstrating their efficacy in regulating the HPA axis, reducing stress, and improving metabolic markers. Furthermore, it evaluates the erosion of traditional, nutrient-dense Indian dietary patterns in favor of Westernized habits and argues for a return to whole-food-based nutrition. Synthesizing evidence from various intervention trials, the research highlights that combining Yogic practices with dietary discipline significantly lowers cardiometabolic risks and enhances mental well-being. The paper concludes by recommending the implementation of culturally adapted, community-based educational interventions to leverage these sustainable, cost-effective practices for national health promotion.

Keywords & Indexing Terms

Download Center

Indexing & Verification

ORCID Author identifier support Open Access Free reader access Indexing Ready Scholar metadata compatible OAI-PMH Metadata harvesting ready Article Metrics Views & download analytics

Article Metrics

Metrics are indicative and may update periodically after indexing, downloads and citation tracking are enabled.

Article Integrity & Transparency

License & Copyright

Copyright © 2025 International Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health and Nutrition. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication.

How to Cite

PDF Preview

If the PDF preview does not load on your device, open the PDF directly or use the Download PDF button. Open PDF in new tab

Declarations

Publisher's Note

References

Showing first 3 references. Click “Show All References” to view complete list.

1. 1. Adaji, E. E., Ahankari, A. S., & Myles, P. R. (2017). An investigation to identify potential risk factors associated with common chronic diseases among the older population in India. International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, 4(5), 1391–1397. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20171746
2. 2. Agrawal, S. (2015). Frequency of food consumption and self-reported diabetes among adult men and women in India: A large scale nationally representative cross-sectional study. PLOS ONE, 10(8), e0132104. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0132104
3. 3. Athare, T. R., Pradhan, P., Singh, S. R. K., & Kropp, J. P. (2022). India consists of multiple food systems with socioeconomic and environmental variations. Scientific Reports, 12, Article 10986. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14884-6
4. 4. Bhattacharya, S., & Kumar, R. (2020). Banning unhealthy foods in school premises in India: Its implications and future recommendations. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 9(8), 3848–3852. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_636_20
5. 5. Chiplonkar, S. A., & Agte, V. V. (2007). Association of micronutrient status with subclinical health complaints in lactovegetarian adults. Public Health Nutrition, 10(7), 731–739. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136898000742188X
6. 6. Clemente-Suárez, V. J., Peris-Ramos, H. C., Redondo-Flórez, L., Beltrán-Velasco, A. I., Martín-Rodríguez, A., David-Fernandez, S., Yáñez-Sepúlveda, R., & Tornero-Aguilera, J. F. (2024). Personalizing nutrition strategies: Bridging research and public health. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 14(2), 178. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm14020178
7. 7. Colles, S. L., Singh, S., Kohli, C., & Mithal, A. (2013). Dietary beliefs and eating patterns influence metabolic health in type 2 diabetes: A clinic-based study in urban North India. Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, 17(6), 1066–1070. https://doi.org/10.4103/2230-8210.122625
8. 8. Daniel, C. R., Prabhakaran, D., Kapur, K., Graubard, B. I., Devasenapathy, N., Ramakrishnan, L., George, P. S., Shetty, H., Ferrucci, L. M., Yurgalevitch, S., Chatterjee, N., Reddy, K. S., Rastogi, T., Gupta, P. C., Mathew, A., & Sinha, R. (2011). A cross-sectional investigation of regional patterns of diet and cardio-metabolic risk in India. Nutrition Journal, 10, Article 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-10-12
9. 9. Ioniță-Mîndrican, C. B., Ziani, K., Mititelu, M., Oprea, E., Neacșu, S. M., Moroșan, E., Dumitrescu, D. E., Roșca, A. C., Drăgănescu, D., & Negrei, C. (2022). Therapeutic benefits and dietary restrictions of fiber intake: A state of the art review. Nutrients, 14(13), 2641. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14132641
10. 10. Jyothi, C. (2015). Nutritional profile of the elderly in the SAT (Semi Arid Tropics) villages of Mahaboobnagar district, Telangana state [Master’s thesis, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University]. Krishikosh. http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810086807
11. 11. Kumar, G. S., Kulkarni, M., & Rathi, N. (2022). Evolving food choices among the urban Indian middle-class: A qualitative study. Frontiers in Nutrition, 9, 883733. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.883733
12. 12. Lawton, J., Ahmad, N., Hanna, L., Douglas, M., Bains, H., & Hallowell, N. (2008). ‘We should change ourselves, but we can’t’: Accounts of food and eating practices amongst British Pakistanis and Indians with type 2 diabetes. Health Education Research, 23(6), 1015–1026. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyn033
13. 13. Lyon, M. R., & Kacinik, V. (2012). Is there a place for dietary fiber supplements in weight management? Current Obesity Reports, 1(2), 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-012-0007-z
14. 14. Nadiger, N., Anantharamu, S., Priyanka, C. N., Vidal-Puig, A., & Mukhopadhyay, A. (2022). Unique attributes of obesity in India: A narrative review. Current Obesity Reports, 11(4), 273–289. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-022-00486-x
15. 15. Pandey, B., Reba, M., Joshi, P. K., & Seto, K. C. (2020). Urbanization and food consumption in India. Scientific Reports, 10, Article 17241. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74317-6
16. 16. Pavithran, N., Kumar, H., Menon, A. S., Pillai, G. K., Sundaram, K. R., & Ojo, O. (2020). South Indian cuisine with low glycemic index ingredients reduces cardiovascular risk factors in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Nutrients, 12(1), 193. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12010193
17. 17. Rajkumar, E., & Romate, J. (2020). Behavioural risk factors, hypertension knowledge, and hypertension in rural India. International Journal of Hypertension, 2020, 8108202. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8108202
18. 18. Shaikh, R., & Khan, J. (2021). Clustering of lifestyle risk factors among adult population in India: A cross-sectional analysis from 2005 to 2016. BMC Public Health, 21, Article 359. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10376-7
19. 19. Shridhar, K., Satija, A., Dhillon, P. K., Agrawal, S., Gupta, R., Bowen, L., Kinra, S., Bharathi, A. V., Prabhakaran, D., Reddy, K. S., & Ebrahim, S. (2018). Association between empirically derived dietary patterns with blood lipids, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure in adults - the India migration study. BMC Public Health, 18, Article 362. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5269-9
20. 20. Shridhar, K., Singh, G., Dey, S., Dhatt, S. S., Gill, J. P. S., Goodman, M., Magsumbol, M. S., Pearce, N., Singh, S., Singh, A., Singh, P., Thakur, J. S., & Dhillon, P. K. (2018). Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk: A multi-centre case control study among North Indian women. PLOS ONE, 13(9), e0201319. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201319
21. 21. Shukla, A., Baghel, A. S., & Vyas, M. (2018). Diet and lifestyle-related factors associated with Apathyanimittaja Prameha (type 2 diabetes): A cross-sectional survey study. Ayu, 39(3), 141–147. https://doi.org/10.4103/ayu.AYU_54_18
22. 22. Singh, A., Gupta, V., Ghosh, A., Lock, K., & Ghosh-Jerath, S. (2015). Quantitative estimates of dietary intake with special emphasis on snacking pattern and nutritional status of free living adults in urban slums of Delhi: Impact of nutrition transition. PLOS ONE, 10(2), e0118266. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118266
23. 23. Sinha, R., Daniel, C. R., Devasenapathy, N., Shetty, H., Yurgalevitch, S., Ferrucci, L. M., George, P. S., Morrissey, K. G., Ramakrishnan, L., Graubard, B. I., Kapur, K., Reddy, K. S., McAdams, M. J., Rastogi, T., Chatterjee, N., Gupta, P. C., Wacholder, S., Prabhakaran, D., & Mathew, A. (2011). Multi-center feasibility study evaluating recruitment, variability in risk factors and biomarkers for a diet and cancer cohort in India. PLOS ONE, 6(4), e17892. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017892
24. 24. Thout, S. R., Yu, J., Santos, J. A., Hameed, M., & Coyle, D. H. (2023). Dietary intakes of hypertensive patients in rural India: Secondary outcomes of a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial. PLOS ONE, 18(1), e0280875. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280875
25. 25. Verma, P., Srivastava, R. K., & Jain, D. (2018). Association of lifestyle risk factors with metabolic syndrome components: A cross-sectional study in Eastern India. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 12(6), 1011–1016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsx.2018.06.014
26. 26. Bhargav, H., Holla, B., Ramakrishna, K. K., Shivakumar, V., Gokulakrishnan, K., Varambally, S., & Gangadhar, B. N. (2021). Yoga and integrative healthcare: Lessons from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in India. International Review of Psychiatry, 33(7), 655–671. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2021.1994247
27. 27. Deole, Y., Chaudhuri, K., Chandola, H. M., & Murthy, A. R. V. (2012). PA01.73. A retrospective analysis of efficacy of various ayurvedic formulations in psychiatric diseases. Ancient Science of Life, 32(Suppl 1), S108. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3800936/
28. 28. Fendt-Newlin, M., Jagannathan, A., & Webber, M. (2020). Cultural adaptation framework of social interventions in mental health: Evidence-based case studies from low-and middle-income countries. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(4), 366–374. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020912198
29. 29. Khemka, S. S., Ramarao, N. H., & Hankey, A. (2011). Effect of integral yoga on psychological and health variables and their correlations. International Journal of Yoga, 4(2), 93–99. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-6131.85492
30. 30. Kumar, D., Raina, S. K., Bhardwaj, A. K., & Chander, V. (2012). Capacity building of AYUSH practitioners to study the feasibility of their involvement in non-communicable disease prevention and control. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 1(1), 10–12. https://doi.org/10.4103/2249-4863.94640
31. 31. McDermott, K. A., Rao, M. R., Nagarathna, R., Murphy, E. J., Burke, A., Nagendra, R. H., & Hecht, F. M. (2014). A yoga intervention for type 2 diabetes risk reduction: A pilot randomized controlled trial. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 14, Article 212. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-14-212
32. 32. Weber, M. B., Rhodes, E. C., Ranjani, H., Jeemon, P., Ali, M. K., Hennink, M. M., Anjana, R. M., Mohan, V., & Prabhakaran, D. (2023). Adapting and scaling a proven diabetes prevention program across 11 worksites in India: The INDIA-WORKS trial. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, 197, 110257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2023.110257

Related Articles