Yoga Intervention as a Potential Countermeasure for Polar T3 Syndrome

• Published in: Defence Life Science Journal
• Main Authors: Nirwan, Mohit, Jyothish, K J, Halder, Kaushik, Chakraborty, Sutanu, Saha, M, Pathak, Anjana, Singh, Shashi Bala, Samy, Ragavendra, Ganju, Lilly
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Defence Scientific Information & Documentation Centre 2019
• Subjects: Indian; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://publications.drdo.gov.in/ojs/index.php/dlsj/article/view/14275; https://doi.org/10.14429/dlsj.4.14275

Polar T3 syndrome is a common ailment for polar sojourners. It is characterised by abnormal fluctuations of thyroid hormones during extended polar winter. A randomised controlled study was conducted on 14 winter expedition members of Indian Scientific Expedition (2016) to Antarctica by introducing customised yoga module. Blood samples were collected during January to October, 2016 at different intervals for the estimation of total thyroxine (TT4), total triiodothyronine (TT3), thyroid stimulating hormone and noradrenaline (NA) by ELISA. In October yoga group showed significant (p = 0.04) higher TT3 values (2.1 ng/ml ± 0.9; mean ± SD) as compared to the control (0.7 ng/ml ± 0.6). In October a significant difference (p=0.0085) was observed between yoga and control group for NA values (47.0 pg/ml ± 22.0 and 107 pg/ml ± 46.0). Thyroid response of control group at the end of the study revealed presence of polar T3 syndrome in control group. Results indicate that regular yoga practice helped mitigating polar T3 syndrome