To reduce pre-Alzheimer’s cognitive impairment, get to the yoga mat

Inner peace and a flexible body may not be the most valuable benefits that yoga and meditation have to offer, suggests new research by a UCLA-led team of neuroscientists. The team found that a three-month course of yoga and meditation practice helped minimize the cognitive and emotional problems that often precede Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia — and that it was even more effective than the memory enhancement exercises that have been considered the gold standard for managing mild cognitive impairment. “Memory training was comparable to yoga with meditation in terms of improving memory, but yoga provided a broader benefit than memory training because it also helped with mood, anxiety and coping skills,” said Helen Lavretsky, the study’s senior author and a professor in residence in UCLA’s department of psychiatry. People with mild cognitive impairment are two-and-a-half times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. UCLA Helen Lavretsky The study, which appears May 10 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, is the first to compare outcomes from yoga and meditation with those from memory training, which incorporates activities ranging from crossword puzzles to commercially available computer programs. The study of 25 participants, all over the age of 55, measured changes not just in behavior but also in brain activity. “Historically and anecdotally, yoga has been thought to be beneficial in aging well, but this ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news