While exercising as you get older can seem daunting, there are more options than weight training and intense exercise. Yoga can help strengthen the body and the mind through poses and mediations. Yoga has been shown to help slow down the effects of aging.
How Yoga Can Help Strengthen the Body and the Mind
Yoga’s meditation and need to focus while posing can help strengthen the brain and thinking skills. For one study, researchers followed a group taking part in learning Kundalini yoga, which involves breathing exercises and meditation, as well as movement and poses.
They went for one hour classes once a week. Researchers chose this form of yoga because it’s a easier form of yoga. It’s good for people who may be out of shape or having difficulty moving.
The yoga participants also were taught a type of meditation called Kirtan Kriya, which involves repeating a mantra and finger movements. They were asked to do meditation for 15 minutes a day.
After 12 weeks, the yoga participants showed improvements in their moods and a lower chance for depression. They also did better on a test of visuospatial memory, a type of remembering that is important for balance, depth perception, and the ability to recognize objects.
Researchers found those who had practiced yoga developed more communication between parts of the brain that control attention, suggesting a greater ability now to focus and multitask.
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