Yoga may improve cognitive function in older adults at risk for decline

Yoga may prevent inflammation and cognitive decline in those at risk, according to a poster presentation at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

“Brief mind-body practices can be a useful adjunct preventive strategy that can reduce stress, improve sleep, reduce inflammation and provide neuroplastic effects on the brain with improved structural and functional connectivity and improved cognitive performance, especially in those who are interested in integrative medicine approaches,” study author Helen Lavretsky, MD, MS, a professor in the department of psychiatry at UCLA, told Healio.

In a randomized controlled trial of 79 patients, Lavretsky and colleagues assessed the efficacy of Kundalini yoga vs. memory enhancement training on mood and cognitive function in women with a mean age of 66.5 years.

The group that participated in yoga demonstrated improvements in seriousness of forgetting at both 12 weeks and 24 weeks. Participating in yoga prevented decrement in gray matter volumes compared with memory training. Furthermore, the researchers found that right hippocampal volume increased after participating in yoga. Compared with the yoga group, the memory enhancement training group had higher levels of inflammation.

“Yoga could be a useful adjunct strategy for prevention of cognitive decline with possible anti-inflammatory effects and direct neuroplastic effects on the brain that result in improved subjective cognitive impairment,” Lavretsky said.