Yoga and meditation provide several physical and mental benefits. Among them is a reduction of dementia risk, according to a new study.
The research suggests that older adults who complete 3 months of a yoga and meditation course may decrease their risk of dementia. The study was conducted by a research team from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) and published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
"If you or your relatives are trying to improve your memory or offset the risk of developing memory loss or dementia, a regular practice of yoga and meditation could be a simple, safe and low-cost solution to improving your brain fitness," Dr. Helen Lavretsky told Medical News Today. So how did the researchers arrive at this conclusion?
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The research involved the study of 25 participants aged 55 and above. A one-hour yoga class and 20-minute meditation time were given once a week to 14 of the study participants.
The 11 remaining participants spent one hour of mental enhancement activities like computer games and crossword puzzles for once a week. In addition to that, they also had 20 minutes of memory training exercises over a period of 12 weeks.
After the 12-week experiment, all of the participants were given memory exams and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The researchers found out that both groups improved in their memory skills. However, those who went through the weekly yoga and meditation course had a more significant improvement in their visual-spatial memory ability.
The research team also found out that the study participants who underwent the yoga and meditation program also had lower levels of anxiety and depression. "When you have memory loss, you can get quite anxious about that and it can lead to depression," Dr. Lavretsky tells Medical News Today.
Aside from a lower dementia risk and decreased levels of anxiety and depression, there are many other benefits of yoga and meditation. These include better flexibility, muscle strength, muscle tone, breathing, energy, vitality, metabolism, weight loss, circulatory system, cardiovascular health, athleticism and injury protection, according to AOA.
