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- High or Low Blood Pressure May Raise the Risk of Dementia
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- The Hidden Costs of Alzheimer’s Disease
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- Alzheimer’s Caregivers May Benefit from Happiness Training
- Giving Up the Guns When a Family Member Has Alzheimer’s
- Care Management Program Is Reducing Need for Anti-anxiety Medication and Visits to the Hospital/Emergency Room
- Talking to a Loved One With Alzheimer’s
- 10 Powerful Ways to Commemorate Alzheimer’s Awareness Month
- Making the Most of Mealtimes for People With Alzheimer’s
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- Depression Increases the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Poor Sleep Tied to Rise in Alzheimer’s Protein in Blood
- Air Pollution Tied to Alzheimer’s Brain Changes
- The Tau of Alzheimer’s
- Anemia Tied to Alzheimer’s Risk
- ‘Squeezed’ Blood Vessels in the Brain May Contribute to Alzheimer’s Onset
- Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer Tied to Alzheimer’s Disease Risk
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- Frailty May Increase Susceptibility to Alzheimer’s Disease
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- Take Your Blood Pressure Meds. It May Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk.
- Drug Company to Pursue Approval of Aducanumab, New Drug for Alzheimer’s
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- Drug Companies Halt Trials of Aducanumab for Alzheimer’s Disease
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- Can Mushrooms Help Your Memory?
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- Experimental Drug, Fails to Benefit Alzheimer’s Patients
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- For a Younger Brain, Try Walking, Gardening, Swimming or Dancing
- Moderate Drinking May Be Good for Your Brain
- Aerobic Exercise Shows Brain Benefits for Those at Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Eating Flavonols, Found in Fruits, Vegetables and Tea, May Lower Alzheimer’s Risk
- Obesity at Midlife Tied to Increased Dementia Risk
- Reading and Writing May Be Good for the Brain
- Ski Study Shows How Exercise May Aid the Brain
- How Light May Help People with Alzheimer’s Disease
- Trans Fats Tied to Increased Alzheimer’s Risk
- New Guidelines Urge a Healthy Lifestyle to Prevent Dementia
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- A Rare Genetic Mutation May Protect Against Alzheimer’s
- Income Drops in Young Adulthood May Impair Brain Health
- Blood Test for Alzheimer’s Grows Closer
- Are We Getting Closer to an Alzheimer’s Vaccine?
- Why More Women Than Men Have Alzheimer’s Disease
- Scientists get a ‘total surprise’ and a promising new clue for how to cure Alzheimer’s
- Some 44 Million People Have Alzheimer’s Worldwide
- Nearly 14 Million Americans Will Have Alzheimer’s Disease by 2060
- Alzheimer’s Rates Could Double in Coming Decades
- Combining Care Program With Medication Reduces Alzheimer’s Symptoms By 750%
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- Important Message from Us to You during COVID-19
- Lucretia V. Holden promoted to Executive Director at the Fisher Center
- The Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation Earns Coveted 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator for the 8th Consecutive Year
- Fisher Center For Alzheimer’s Research Foundation Wins Fall 2018 Digital Health Awards®
- Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation Earns Gold Seal of Transparency from GuideStar
- The Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation Earns Coveted 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator for the 7th Consecutive Year
- Hear Kent Karosen, President and CEO of the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, describe his new book and the power of art therapy
- Fisher Center Scientists link a Mutation That Protects Against the Development of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Newly Inducted Into the Basketball Hall of Fame, Shaquille O’Neal, Joins the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation to Raise Funds for Groundbreaking Research in the Quest for a Cure
- Pat Summitt, legendary women’s basketball coach, dies at 64
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Yoga and Meditation May Help Ward Off Alzheimer’s
January 26, 2017
A three-month program of yoga and meditation helped ease the decline in thinking and memory skills that often precedes Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new report. The benefits of yoga and meditation were comparable to those of a brain-training program, while providing additional mood-boosting benefits.
The study, from researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, add to a growing body of research that suggests that programs for the mind and body can help to strengthen the brain and perhaps help keep Alzheimer’s at bay.
“Memory training was comparable to yoga with meditation in terms of improving memory,” said Dr. Helen Lavretsky, the study’s senior author and a professor in residence in UCLA’s department of psychiatry.Yoga, she said, “provided a broader benefit than memory training because it also helped with mood, anxiety and coping skills.” The findings were published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
The study looked at 25 men and women with mild cognitive impairment, a form of memory loss that can progress to Alzheimer’s disease. The participants were all older than 55 and suffered from memory complaints like forgetting names and appointments, misplacing things and not recognizing faces.They underwent memory tests and brain scans at the beginning of the study, and again at the end, three months later.
Eleven of the study participants got an hour a week of brain training, involving mentally challenging computer games and puzzles, and spent 20 minutes a day doing the exercises. Other research has shown that intellectually stimulating tasks like reading, writing or doing crossword puzzles may help to strengthenconnections between brain cells and protect against Alzheimer’s. [See the alzinfo.org story, “Crossword Puzzles May Be Good for the Brain,” at https://www.alzinfo.org/articles/prevention/crossword-puzzles-may-be-good-for-the-brain-but-scientists-arent-sure-why/ ]
The remaining 14 participants took a one-hour weekly yoga class, and meditated 20 minutes a day. The yoga offered was Kundalini yoga, which incorporates body movement, breathing exercises and chanting. The mediation program, called KirtanKriya, involves chanting, hand movements and the visualization of light, and has long been practiced in India as a way to boost cognitive skills.
After 12 weeks, both groups showed improvements in memory and verbal skills. They were better able to complete tasks like remembering names and lists of words. MRI brain scans showed [significant? Perhaps better say: might suggest] improvements among brain connections as well.
But the yoga group showed additional improvements in tests that measure visual-spatial memory skills like navigating or remembering locations. They also showed less anxiety and better coping skills and resilience to stress.
Earlier research by Dr. Lavretsky’s group has shown that meditation may be good for those caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s as well. Caregivers taught meditation showed lower levels of stress and better coping skills. They also showed clear reductions in levels of various proteins linked to inflammation, which scientists increasingly recognize as a contributor to heart disease and other chronic illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease. [See the alzinfo.org story, “How Meditation May Help Against Alzheimer’s,” at https://www.alzinfo.org/articles/meditation-alzheimers/ ]
The researchers acknowledge that the current study was small, and the results need to be replicated in larger studies. But, it is very promising to observe these effects, especially after only 12 yoga sessions. In any case, Dr. Lavretsky said, “If you or your relatives are trying to improve your memory or offset the risk for 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.”
Combining a yoga and meditation program with brain-training exercises, along with regular physical exercise like walking and eating a heart-healthy diet, may be most effective of all.
By ALZinfo.org, The Alzheimer’s Information Site. Reviewed by Marc Flajolet, Ph.D., Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation at The Rockefeller University.
Source: Eyre, Harris A.; Acevedo, Bianca; Yang, Hongyu; et al: “Changes in Neural Connectivity and Memory Following a Yoga Intervention for Older Adults: A Pilot Study.” The Journal of Alzheimer’s DiseaseVolume 52, No. 2, pages 673-684, May 10, 2016
