Yoga not only reduces stress, but it also increases brain power in older practitioners, new research shows.
University of Illinois health experts found that practicing hatha yoga three times a week for eight weeks improved sedentary older adults' performance on tests of mental skills and memory.
The study, published in The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, involved 108 adults between the ages of 55 and 79. About half of the seniors attended yoga classes; the others met engaged in stretching and toning exercises instead of yoga.
After two months, the yoga group was speedier and more accurate on tests of information recall, mental flexibility, and performing mental tasks than been before beginning the classes. The stretching-and-toning group saw no significant change in cognitive performance over the course of the study.
Hatha yoga is an ancient spiritual practice that involves meditation and focused breathing while moving through a series of stylized postures, explained Neha Gothe, who led the study with University of Illinois health professor Edward McAuley and Arthur Kramer, a professor at Wayne State University.
"Hatha yoga requires focused effort in moving through the poses, controlling the body and breathing at a steady rate," Gothe said. "It is possible that this focus on one's body, mind and breath during yoga practice may have generalized to situations outside of the yoga classes, resulting in an improved ability to sustain attention."
Previous studies have found that yoga can have immediate positive psychological effects by decreasing anxiety, depression and stress, Gothe noted.
"These studies suggest that yoga has an immediate quieting effect on the sympathetic nervous system and on the body's response to stress," she said. "Since we know that stress and anxiety can affect cognitive performance, the eight-week yoga intervention may have boosted participants' performance by reducing their stress."
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