Yoga May Reduce Dementia Risk

A recent study released by the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease has concluded that a yoga and meditation program may be effective in lowering the risk of adults developing cognitive problems related to dementia and Alzheimer’s.
The team from University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) and Dr. Helen Lavretsky from the Department of Psychiatry led the study.
One of the greatest challenges of patients experiencing cognitive disorders is MCI or Mild Cognitive Impairment. It starts by affecting the individual’s basic cognitive functions like memory retention and thinking capabilities. These symptoms can get worse and eventually leads to Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
Unfortunately, there is no known cure for MCI. A lot of experts recommend having older adults remain active especially in doing mentally stimulating tasks like crossword puzzles, and other thinking games to reduce their risk for cognitive disorders.
In the study, the participants were carefully chosen ranging from age 55 and above. There were a total of 25 participants. The group was divided into two.
14 of the participants attended a 1-hour Kundalini yoga class once a week, and participated in a 20-minute Kirtan Kriya meditation every day for 12 weeks.
The yoga class is known to be the "yoga of awareness." They were taught breathing techniques, chanting and meditation. As for the Kirtan Kriya meditation, they took part in chanting, hand movements, and light visualization.
The other 11 participants had memory enhancement training for 1 hour. This involves crossword puzzles or computer games once a week for 12 weeks. They allotted 20 minutes a day in completing memory exercises as well.
Within the 12-week duration of the experiment, all participants finished their memory tests and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This helps the researchers investigate the participants’ progress in the study.
Both groups exhibited great results in terms of verbal memory skills. They showed improvements in their basic skills by remembering names and lists of words.
It was noted though that participants who did the yoga and meditation program had increased improvements in visual-spatial memory skills. This is the skill of an individual to navigate and remember locations. They did better than the other group.
The results showed that the yoga-meditation group did better in handling anxiety and depression. They had excellent coping skills and stress resilience. These improvements were related to the changes in brain connectivity. The researchers noticed that the yoga-meditation group proved to have brain connectivity changes that were highly significant.
The researchers found that this is connected to the increased production of brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor (BDNF). This accounts for boosting connections between brain cells and maintains these brain cell connections.
With this in mind, the research team believes that the yoga and meditation program are excellent strategies for decreasing the risk of cognitive decline in older adults.