12: Twists & detoxes, shoulderstands & thyroids

This episode, extracted from a recent webinar, focuses on whether twists detoxify the liver and whether shoulder stands stimulate the thyroid gland. Matt explores liver functions, the science behind detox diets, and the role of the thyroid gland in the body's endocrine system. The episode also highlights the significant health benefits of exercise, including yoga, in reducing systemic inflammation and supporting overall health.

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00:00 Introduction to the Enlightened Anatomy Podcast
00:05 Repurposed Webinar Overview
01:31 Twists and Detoxification Claims
02:22 Understanding the Liver's Role in Detoxification
06:09 Debunking Detox Diets
09:38 Yoga and Detoxification: The Evidence
15:46 Shoulder Stand and the Thyroid Gland
23:52 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Matt Huy: 0:00

{\rtf1\ansi\deff0 \margl1800\margr1800\margb1440\margt1440\deflang1033\lndscpsxn {\colortbl; } {\fonttbl; {\f0 Arial} } {\pard \line \par} {Hello, my friends, and welcome to the Enlightened Anatomy Podcast. } {\pard \line \par} {Today's episode is a different format in that I am repurposing a webinar that I hosted a while back titled Three Things Every Yoga Teacher Should Know About Physiology and Science. I know it's a long and catchy title, isn't it? But anyway.} {\pard \line \par} {I think it was a really valuable webinar with some really useful content, so I decided why not share this with the public? And just to let you know, even though it's three things you should know, I took out the first thing because I've talked about it a little bit too much. Apparently, i've mentioned Russell's Teapot now two or three times.} {\pard \line \par} {Uh, so I thought no need to mention it again, if you haven't yet learned about critical thinking, go back to episode ten . So I have narrowed it down to two things, uh, which are twists and whether they detoxify the liver and shoulder stand and whether it stimulates the thyroid gland. So I really hope you enjoy this repurposed webinar, um, on those two topics, and I will see you on the other side.} {\pard \line \par} {Enjoy} {\pard \line \par} { } {\pard \line \par} { ​} {\pard \line \par} { ​} {\pard \line \par} { ​} {\pard \line \par} { ​} {\pard \line \par} { } {\pard \line \par} {So twists and detox claim. Our book has lots of different sidebars which have proved, um, one of the more popular aspects where we look at a claim and then we look at the evidence behind it.} {\pard \line \par} {Okay, so this is one of the myth or fact sidebars. Iyengar famously stated that twists squeeze and soak the body. Okay. I'm sure you've probably heard that in a yoga class. This is from Yoga Journal, the idea. And she was basically talking about what Iyengar said, 'cause she's a student of Iyengar.} {\pard \line \par} {The idea is that when you twist, you create a wringing action, removing stale blood and allowing a freshly oxygenated supply to flow in. Okay. Is that true? Is it not true? Well, let's look at some anatomy and physiology of it. } {\pard \line \par} {So first of all, the liver is the second largest organ.} {\pard \line \par} {Can you guess what the largest organ is? Guess, depending on how we're defining it. Um, if we look at basically number of cells, surface area, that sort of thing. Skin, exactly. Good. Um, your liver is just below the diaphragm and it attaches in part to it.} {\pard \line \par} {So the liver here is this purple-ish looking thing, and it's in the shape of the diaphragm. So your diaphragm is going to be connected right here. So , as you breathe, your diaphragm pulls down. It's actually gonna push your liver down and then your stomach is here.} {\pard \line \par} {It's gonna push on your stomach also. Everything is very interconnected. Just a little bit of interesting anatomy. Um, the liver is a digestive gland and it's considered an accessory organ to the digestive system, and it's important in energy production. The liver is an amazing thing. It has more than 500 different functions.} {\pard \line \par} {It can regenerate itself. It's incredible. And here are some of its functions. It builds proteins, it produces biochemicals for digestion like bile, for example. Um, and it regulates glycogen storage from glucose. It's like the silo of the farm. So we can store energy in it. We can store, , basically sugars in it, glycogen, which then we can later use for calories, right?} {\pard \line \par} {But the most famous liver function is of course, detoxification. Right? So first of all, what is a toxin ? Well, it is a poisonous substance made by a living organism. So it's quite a vague definition actually. Toxins can be ingested such as drugs, pollutants, or even produced within the body itself.} {\pard \line \par} {You know, when you, um, are holding a plank or chair pose, right? And your muscles start to burn because they are filling with lactic acid, they're going into an acidic state, that lactic acid quickly turns into lactate and it's shuttled out of muscles. That's why the burning goes away. So that lactate is actually a toxin.} {\pard \line \par} {But then your liver will get rid of that toxin. It will break it down into harmless substances and it will either get rid of it, but in the case of lactate, it will actually use the carbohydrate, the sugar that's still available there for more energy in the future.} {\pard \line \par} {Your body is like the best recycling machine in the world. It's incredible how the very waste products it's producing, it can use as energy. Even hormones, once they're broken down by enzymes are also, toxins. And your liver right now is neutralizing toxins. It's doing it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even when you're sleeping in a cellular process.} {\pard \line \par} {So it's in cells involving enzymes and biochemicals. Okay? It's not doing it based on mechanical movement. It's not like squeezing and soaking. It is doing it in a cellular process and the harmless byproducts of toxins are then transported out of the body, or like I said, reused.} {\pard \line \par} {So an example of some of the toxins that might go into your body, like insecticides, food additives, alcohol, you know, uh, metabolic end products, which is things that you produce in your body, like lactate. Um, and then it breaks it down and then it gets rid of them through, at the end of the chain here, your stool , your number two, or your urine, your number one, right?} {\pard \line \par} {Okay. So that's how the liver works. } {\pard \line \par} {Now, before we go into yoga and detox, I wanted to jump into detox diets, first of all. If you just look at the titles of these two books, Super Cleanse: Detox Your Body for Long Lasting Health and Beauty, and just the title, Detox Juice. It suggests just by its very name that this thing will detox you.} {\pard \line \par} {Right? But didn't we just learn that it's the liver detoxing you? Right. So what evidence for or against our hypothesis exists? Well, the most current review, which is from, you can see from my reference here at the bottom 2015, and I just checked today. It's still the most current review on the effectiveness of detox diets found, and I find this shocking.} {\pard \line \par} {No randomized controlled trials have been conducted to assess the effectiveness of commercial detox diets in humans. Randomized control trial is the gold standard. It's the best way of producing research according to the scientific method, and not a single one, um, at that time had been conducted.} {\pard \line \par} {Perhaps one has been conducted since then, but basically there's just been not good evidence on this. There has been some studies, but they have had major methodological flaws, which means they haven't followed good processes , they may not have randomized their participants, they may have used preselected participants.} {\pard \line \par} {Um, they may he not have reported all of the things that they did and all of the other factors that may have been involved. So that's what methodological flaws means. And here's a direct quote from this article: "Despite a booming detox industry and product packaging that makes bold claims, like those two book titles, very little evidence exists to support the use of detox diets.} {\pard \line \par} {This deserves attention so that consumers can be informed of the potential benefits and risks of detox programs." Because you know, my friends, there are some detox programs that actually can be dangerous. Like maybe it can be dangerous to have juices for a month or to go on the cabbage diet for a month maybe.} {\pard \line \par} {We definitely need more research in this regard. But at the moment, pretty much all detox diet claims are unsubstantiated. At the same time, if you start a quote detox diet, okay, you are probably consuming, taking in fewer what? So let's say I go from having my McDonald's five times a week to going on a, a juice cleanse.} {\pard \line \par} {A lot of You're saying calories. Okay. Yeah. I might reduce my calories. Highly processed foods. Yeah. Okay. Exactly. Additives . Exactly. Mm-hmm. Okay. Oxidants and empty calories. Okay. And, and if you think about it, detox diets probably have fewer toxins. Right? So do you see that difference?} {\pard \line \par} {It's, it's not that the diet is detoxing you because you are already detoxing you. And you would know if you weren't, you would turn yellow, you would actually die within a week if you were not detoxifying yourself. Um. But then by having a healthier diet, you're having fewer toxins, right? So your body might be able to work better.} {\pard \line \par} {Okay. } {\pard \line \par} {What about yoga? Again, if you look at these titles, um, Eight Yoga Poses for Daily Detox, Detox Yoga Poses, Yoga Wash. I'm sure you've seen all this sort of stuff before. Uh, well, is there any evidence for or against? There's simply no research, honestly, to our knowledge, mine Andrew's that yoga improves the body's natural detoxification system because it's already working well. Again, you would know if it weren't, you'd have a plethora of symptoms, even ones that would kill you. However, don't lose heart. Hang on, there's some good news. If you're thinking, oh man, yoga is useless. I'm not doing, I, I I've gotta stop my detox workshops. Hang on, listen. Exercise and it's not just yoga, but actually exercise helps in another extraordinary way. So there's something known as chronic inflammation. So basically when our body has this heightened immune response and chronic inflammation, so over long term, it weakens many systems and it underlies many serious diseases.} {\pard \line \par} {So people who have the following diseases, like certain types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, uh, arthritis, they have periods of chronic inflammation before these diseases come on. According to the research, and I've got my reference there. And we also know that exercise, including yoga, my references there, not just exercise, but also yoga. We know it decreases systemic inflammation, which allows all systems to work more efficiently. And exercise also increases circulation, blood to all the different tissues of the body. So more nutrients and oxygen are available for digestion and detoxification. And therefore, this is why we know exercise dramatically reduces the onset of many chronic diseases.} {\pard \line \par} {Exercise is amazing. It's been described as a miracle drug. That is why governments across the world, the World Health Organization recommends a certain amount of exercise every week. In fact, it's 150 minutes of, of moderate intensity exercise every week, plus two, two days of strength training.} {\pard \line \par} {So there's a number to it, and we do that because we know it's so good for overall health, and it's going to significantly decrease your risk of chronic disease. Okay. So let's go back to this claim. Do twists help liver detox? Well, I. First of all, and I didn't mention this, your liver is actually slippery, especially if it has lots of toxins.} {\pard \line \par} {You get a fatty covering on it. If you've had a heavy night of drinking. We cannot physically grab it and squeeze and soak it. And when you're twisting, you don't get far. You're not, you're not twisting the liver. It's moving a very small amount. What is stopping you in a twist is your spine, your intervertebral discs, and the ligaments of your spine.} {\pard \line \par} {We are getting nowhere near the point of actually twisting out the liver. So the theory is honestly just plain wrong. 24 hours a day, your body is detoxifying itself and it's a cellular process. It's not a mechanical one, so you don't need to go upside down. You don't need to twist for it to happen. If you lie down in bed, it would still happen.} {\pard \line \par} {It doesn't require compressing, ringing, or stretching of internal organs. However, we do know that exercise, including yoga, can help reduce systemic inflammation and improve circulation. Self-test.} {\pard \line \par} {Okay, let's see if we, uh, synthesize that information. The liver neutralizes toxins 24 hours a day using voluntary muscles to squeeze out toxins. The power of the mind, enzymes and biochemicals. No, that's it. So A, B, or C? Can you drop in the chat? Which one is it?} {\pard \line \par} {Tons of Cs here. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah . True or false science supports the use of detox diets for improving detoxification.} {\pard \line \par} {Lots of Fs. And at the moment, yes, that is false. Okay. Uh, I didn't mention this, but there have been studies that show detox diets are effective for weight loss, but not for improving detoxification because that's already doing okay. You know, so detox diets, you're gonna reduce your toxins, you're probably gonna reduce your calories.} {\pard \line \par} {So we could say it is effective for weight loss, but that's not the same thing as saying it's improving your detoxification. And really the, the term detox diets it, it is an incorrect term. It's a misnomer actually. We should say lower toxin diet I guess, but that, that's not as, um, marketing savvy is it?} {\pard \line \par} {So just like exercise, yoga may improve many bodily processes, including digestion and detoxification by reducing systemic what? And improving blanks. If you write two words, yoga, like exercise will reduce systemic blank and improve blank. Inflammation and circulation is absolutely right. Exactly. Inflammation and circulation. Beautiful. And last question, name three chronic diseases that systemic inflammation underlies.} {\pard \line \par} {And, you know, chronic means long-term, basically.} {\pard \line \par} {All right, so I'm getting arthritis, diabetes, endometriosis. What I don't was that on the slide? I don't know, but I, I would, I would imagine, I, I can't say for certain, I, I, I'd know for certain, but I would imagine cyst inflammation could increase your chance of endometriosis, but I, I can't say that for certain that moment.} {\pard \line \par} {Um, yeah. Diabetes, cancer, yep. Arthritis. Cardiovascular disease, heart disease. Great.} {\pard \line \par} {And our last one. } {\pard \line \par} {This is about shoulder stand and the thyroid gland.} {\pard \line \par} {hands up, or if you don't have your camera on, can I just get like a, an emoji in the chat if you've heard this in a yoga studio before?. Have you heard that? Everyone's got their hand up? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we've all heard this. It's really common. It's said everywhere and, here's evidence of people saying it, not just, uh, me telling you I've heard this, but actually here's a, a sample of something from online which says, you know, shoulder stand, also known as Sarvangasana, helps insomnia, relieves cold. I dunno if that means having a cold or just being cold, I'm not sure.} {\pard \line \par} {Um, digestion. And here we go. Cures thyroid. Which I think is interesting because it's not even saying cures thyroid problems, but just cures it. Like cures your bone. Um, and then prevents hair fall. I think they mean hair loss. But anyway, there's evidence that, um, people do believe shoulder stand stimulates a thyroid gland.} {\pard \line \par} {Okay, well, well, what is it, first of all, right? So. It is this kind of butterfly shaped gland, so it's part of your, um, endocrine system. And this is your brain here, okay? And this is the pituitary gland. That's like the, the master hormone. And then here in your neck is the thyroid gland.} {\pard \line \par} {So it's actually part of your cartilage here. The adam's apple, that's where your thyroid gland is. That's where you're going to release thyroid hormones. and so It's part of the endocrine system. And all glands release hormones, which float around in the blood and affect various physiologic functions in the body.} {\pard \line \par} {So the thyroid gland releases three hormones. T three and T four. They have really long names. I don't even know 'em. But T three and T four, those are the thyroid hormones. And then it also releases calcitonin, which controls calcium levels in your blood. But T three and T four are the main thyroid hormones. And these hormones affect digestion, fat availability for energy, your heartbeat, your breathing rate, your core temperature, whether you're cold or hot, normal sexual function, sleep, thought patterns, growth rate, and more. Your thyroid glands do loads of stuff, you know what I mean?} {\pard \line \par} {Like they are really important and because they affect so many different functions this can also be why it's so difficult to, uh, sometimes diagnose someone with a thyroid problem. 'cause one person might come in saying, I feel cold all the time. Another person might say, I feel lethargic, and you know, my digestion's are, and both of them might have a thyroid problem, right?} {\pard \line \par} {Okay. So that's what the thyroid hormones do. But first actually they need a signal from above. So the hypothalamus is part of your brain and your hypothalamus basically tells your pituitary gland to release hormones. This is known as the HPT axis. So hypothalamus pituitary thyroid.} {\pard \line \par} {The hypothalamus sends a message, a hormone to the pituitary. The pituitary sends a hormone to the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland then releases the hormones. So it goes down this cascade and it has to. Even if you're getting lots of blood flow to the thyroid gland, you're doing lots of shoulder stands.} {\pard \line \par} {If you have a problem with your hypothalamus or your pituitary because maybe you have like a tumor on your pituitary, then you still won't release the thyroid hormones because that problem upstream. If we could stimulate the thyroid gland, I.} {\pard \line \par} {Shouldn't that depend on whether someone has a healthy or underactive or overactive thyroid? Right? Like, what does stimulate mean? Does that mean release more thyroid hormone or release less, you know, it's, it's not even clear what that word stimulate means. Stimulate is a scientific term and basically we stimulate neurons, we excite neurons, and then they send a message to other neurons, and that's how you move your body.} {\pard \line \par} {That's how you have thoughts and that sort of thing.} {\pard \line \par} {So we've looked at, you know, the anatomy and physiology. Now what about the science? You know, is there some science on whether yoga can help thyroid conditions? Sadly, quality research is severely lacking. So a couple of studies like two have found that yoga might help improve quality of life and participant's perception of how healthy they're, but not significantly change their hormone levels.} {\pard \line \par} {So since there aren't great studies on yoga, let's look at exercise in general. Okay. And actually a considerable amount exists. Great. What do, what do they find? Quite a few studies have found that aerobic exercise, you know, cardiovascular exercise improves those hormones, T three and T four in people with hypothyroidism, which is underactive thyroid.} {\pard \line \par} {Great. And what intensity is most effective. They found 70% of maximal effort provided the most results. So you don't have to go super, you know, 100%, you know, sprinting for a hundred minutes, 70%. And actually, you know, yoga is, is considered a moderate level of physical activity. So that would probably be around the 50 to 70% mark.} {\pard \line \par} {Depend on what kind of class we're looking at, like a vinyasa class. Um, and then also, beyond just affecting the thyroid gland also exercises secondary benefits, which means, not the direct benefit, but on the side can also help with boosting mood with weight loss, increased energy, improved self-esteem and self-efficacy, which is your belief in yourself to, to do stuff basically.} {\pard \line \par} {Right? And don't forget about that chronic disease stuff that we looked at earlier. So, you know. Does shoulder stand stimulate the thyroid gland? Probably not. And it's really not even been investigated scientifically. It's purely based on speculation on not good principles. Like it doesn't really make sense.} {\pard \line \par} {You've already got tons of blood flow to the thyroid and you need that signal from above. So it's probably a myth. And also, you know, does the thyroid need stimulating? Because if you have a problem with the HPT axis above, then you won't get the thyroid hormones released. But we do know all exercise has some beneficial effects on the endocrine system, including the thyroid gland.} {\pard \line \par} {Right. Okay. Which takes us to our last self test of the evening and the last five minutes of this presentation. So the thyroid hormones affect which physiologic process? Processes? Um, digestion, heart rate, sleep, or all of the above. If you can type into the chat, A, B, C, or D please,} {\pard \line \par} {D is absolutely right and it's even more right, normal sexual function, how cold you feel your core temperature, energy levels to release its hormone, the thyroid gland must first receive a chemical signal from the blank, which must first receive a chemical signal from the blank. Can you remember that axis?} {\pard \line \par} {So what, what's the one directly above the thyroid and then what's the one above that?} {\pard \line \par} {So pituitary. And then the hypothalamus. Beautiful. Good. The HPT axis, but I was asking you in reverse of TPH. Exactly. Beautiful.} {\pard \line \par} {True or false according to research. Exercise appears to have no effect on thyroid hormones.} {\pard \line \par} {False. Exactly. Well, oh, someone said true. No, that's false. You get to catch the, the, the, it's like kind of a trick question there. So it's not that exercise has no effect on thyroid function. No. Actually we do know exercise is beneficial for thyroid function. Probably not stimulating thyroid gland in the way that you've been told, but even if you, even if you've heard that in class, it's probably not a bad thing, you know? So what if you've given someone a bit of a placebo and made them feel good about themselves? Not a big deal. } {\pard \line \par} {And} { that concludes today's episode of again, the repurposed webinar. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you found some value in it, and I look forward to joining you in the next episode, or you joining me.} {\pard \line \par} {Thanks again for tuning in. See you next time.} {\pard \line \par} { } {\pard \line \par} { } {\pard \line \par} { } {\pard \line \par} { } {\pard \line \par} { }