Yoga Boosts Aging Brains, Study

Practicing yoga can help boost elderly brains, a new study suggests.

New research suggests that practicing Hatha yoga three times a week for eight weeks could significantly improve cognition in sedentary older adults.

The study, which involved 108 adults between the ages of 55 and 79, revealed that people in the yoga group were quicker and more accurate on information recall, mental flexibility and task-switching than it had been before the study compared to those other participants who engaged in stretching and toning exercises.

Researchers noted that Hatha yoga involved meditation and focused breathing while the practitioner moves through a series of stylized postures.

"Hatha yoga requires focused effort in moving through the poses, controlling the body and breathing at a steady rate," lead researchers Neha Gothe and University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Edward McAuley, said in a news release.

"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," they added.

Researchers noted that previous research reveals that Hatha yoga could also trigger immediate positive psychological effects by lowering feelings of anxiety, depression and stress.

"These studies suggest that yoga has an immediate quieting effect on the sympathetic nervous system and on the body's response to stress," researchers said, according to a statement,

"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," Gothe added.

The findings are published in The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.