Yoga For Older Adults
Yogas popularity among older Americans is growing. National survey data show that 6.7 percent of U.S. adults age 65 and over practiced yoga in 2017, as compared to 3.3 percent in 2012, 2.0 percent in 2007, and 1.3 percent in 2002.
Older adults who practice yoga should put safety first. Its a good idea to start with an appropriate yoga classsuch as one called gentle yoga or seniors yogato get individualized advice and learn correct form. Chair yoga is an even gentler option for seniors with limited mobility. And its important for older people with medical issues to talk to both their health care providers and the yoga teacher before starting yoga.
What Does the Research Show?
- A 2015 study funded by NCCIH compared 14 experienced yoga practitioners to 14 physically active control participants of similar ages. In the control group, the amount of gray matter was lower in older participants than younger ones. In the yoga practitioners, there was no relationship between gray matter and age. Among the yoga practitioners, the volume of certain brain regions increased with the number of years of yoga experience and weekly amount of yoga practice.
Search Results And Flow Of Trials Through The Review
A total of 3880 records were identified, and the titles and abstracts were screened. Full text versions were retrieved for 80 articles, of which 19 were eligible for inclusion. Thirteen of those reported changes in depressive symptoms and were included in the meta-analysis. Six studies were excluded from the quantitative analyses as they did not report depression symptom scores. shows the flow of studies through the review and reasons for exclusion.
Dropout, attendance and adverse events of the included studies
Yoga Teaches Compassion For Yourself And Others
One of yogas most important aspects is ahimsa, or compassion towards all creations, Edwin Bryant, a practitioner of yoga for over 45 years and a professor who teaches about yoga and philosophy at Rutgers University, said. Yogic practice pushes the individual to not only get closer with their own self but also with the nature, space, environment and creations around them. You want to slowly feel a union with everything.
Practitioners say that the yoga experience has been helpful during the pandemic, especially when dealing with the loneliness and stress associated with the lockdown and uncertainty.
Yogic philosophy can help us to change our outlook, another extremely important factor when it comes to mental health, Jesal Parikh, a yoga teacher and the co-founder of the “Yoga is Dead” podcast, explained. For example, practicing gratitude can help us perceive difficult situations more positively and help us to navigate these situations with more ease.
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Psychological Benefits Of Yoga
There are many kinds of yoga. The type most practiced in the U.S. is hatha yoga, which combines physical poses and mindful breathing. Yoga can improve balance, flexibility, range-of-motion, and strength. It can also enhance mental health, although these benefits are harder to measure. According to many studies, yoga can:
Release helpful brain chemicals. Most exercise triggers the release of “feel-good” chemicals in the brain. These mood boosting chemicals include brain messengers such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Although yoga movements are slow and controlled, they still elevate your heart rate, make the muscles work hard, and stimulate the release of brain chemicals. As a result, yoga can make you happier.
ââRelieve depression. Studies show that yoga can ease depression. Researchers have found that yoga is comparable to other treatments, such as medication and psychotherapy. Yoga is usually inexpensive and doesn’t cause the same side effects as many medicines. It can even benefit those with major depressive disorder. The use of yoga for depression needs more study because there aren’t very many controlled trials.
Reduce stress. When Americans answered a survey about why they practiced yoga, 86% of them said that it helped to deal with stress. The tightening and relaxing of muscles can reduce tension. You may also benefit from the peaceful atmosphere, calming music, and positive attitude that you will find in most yoga classes.
Mental Health Issues & The Yoga Effect
It is estimated that in the United States, roughly 43 million people, or about every 1 in 5 Americans are suffering from some type of mental illness. Many of these people do not have the access to medical insurance which would provide them with the appropriate and adequate therapies and medications to help cope with their illnesses. Enter, yoga the perfect blend of both mind and body reflections as well as a readily accessible and available form of healing.
There are at least 5 types of mental health issues that can benefit from yoga
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Yoga As A Practice Tool
With a growing body of research supporting yoga’s mental health benefits, psychologists are weaving the practice into their work with clients.
Print version: page 38
Monitor on Psychology40
What was once a practice for a centered few has now become mainstream American: According to a survey last year by Yoga Journal, today more than 15 million U.S. adults practice yoga, and not surprisingly, there is research supporting its physical benefits. Studies show the practicewhich combines stretching and other exercises with deep breathing and meditationcan improve overall physical fitness, strength, flexibility and lung capacity, while reducing heart rate, blood pressure and back pain.
But what is perhaps unknown to those who consider yoga just another exercise form is that there is a growing body of research documenting yoga’s psychological benefits. Several recent studies suggest that yoga may help strengthen social attachments, reduce stress and relieve anxiety, depression and insomnia. Researchers are also starting to claim some success in using yoga and yoga-based treatments to help active-duty military and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“The evidence is showing that yoga really helps change people at every level,” says Stanford University health psychologist and yoga instructor Kelly McGonigal, PhD.
The mind-body meld
Putting yoga into practice
Amy Novotney is a writer in Chicago.
Yoga For Pain Conditions
Yoga may help relieve low-back pain and neck pain, but it has not been shown to be helpful for some other painful conditions such as headache, arthritis, fibromyalgia, or carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Fibromyalgia. Recent systematic reviews and randomized clinical trials provide encouraging evidence that some mind and body practices such as yoga may help relieve some fibromyalgia symptoms.
- In 2017, the European League Against Rheumatism evaluated non-pharmacologic therapies, including complementary health approaches, and issued revised recommendations for the management of fibromyalgia. The strength of these recommendation is based on the balance between desirable and undesirable effects , confidence in the magnitude of effects, and resource use. A strong recommendation implies that, if presented with the evidence, all or almost all informed persons would make the recommendation for or against the therapy, while a weak recommendation would imply that most people would, although a substantial minority would not. Based on the evaluation of acupuncture, meditative movement practices , and mindfulness-based stress reduction, the recommendation for each was weak for use of the therapy.
- A 2015 Cochrane review of 61 trials involving 4,234 predominantly female participants with fibromyalgia concluded that the effectiveness of biofeedback, mindfulness, movement therapies , and relaxation techniques remains unclear as the quality of evidence was low or very low.
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The Importance Of Yoga And Mental Health
Yoga and mental health are two topics that are often put in relation to each other. What if just taking one hour of the day to stretch and meditate could increase your mood? We ask the question, does yoga affect the mental health and wellness of a person? Yoga is a practice rooted in Indian philosophy that was expected to relieve pain, stress, depression and other physical and mental health issues. Mental health is based off of psychological, emotional, and social well-being. Meditation is also integrated
Yoga Relaxes You To Help You Sleep Better
Research shows that a consistent bedtime yoga routine can help you get in the right mindset and prepare your body to fall asleep and stay asleep.
Try It: Legs-Up-the-Wall PoseSit with your left side against a wall, then gently turn right and lift your legs up to rest against the wall, keeping your back on the floor and your sitting bones close to the wall. You can remain in this position for 5 to 15 minutes.
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The Benefits Of Yoga: How It Boosts Your Mental Health
For more than a decade, Houston Methodist’s medical director of psychiatry and telepsychiatry has relied on yoga and its healing powers to help maintain her own mental and physical fitness. As one who deals daily with patients suffering mental health crises, Dr. Corinna Keenmon’s profession demands that she maintain focus, clarity, compassion and sound judgment even on the worst days.
“Yoga seems to have this powerful combination of the physical movement combined with the deep breathing, meditation and mindfulness aspect,” Dr. Keenmon explains. “This total package helps us physically by increasing flexibility, along with heart and brain health. Plus, the cognitive and emotional improvements that happen over time are priceless.”
Yoga’s mind-body practice dates back thousands of years and has dozens of different types. But its basic premise seeks relaxation through breathing and meditation combined with stretching and strengthening poses. Regular practitioners tout yoga’s ability to help them with everything from mood and emotions to muscle tone, endurance and strength.
And science backs these claims.
Why Mental Illness Is On The Rise
It is happening on a large scale in Western societies. India is not going to be far behind. Urban societies in India will especially move in this direction because in many ways, urban India is more West than West. There are more people in denims here than in America!
Mental illnesses are growing like never before because we are pulling out all the supports that people have, but we are not replacing those supports with anything. If people become so conscious and capable within themselves, everything would be fine even if you pulled all the supports. But without giving that competence, if you just pull the supports, people will crack.
For a long time, we have been banking on a few things for our mental and emotional stability. But now, all these things are being taken away. One of these things is family. Family gives us a certain support no matter what happened, there was always someone for you. Everyone else is with you when you do the right things. If you do the wrong things, they will distance themselves. Family was one bunch of people who were like a net for the circus that you did. Whichever way you fell, there was someone to hold you for some moments. But that net is gone for many people these days. Now, when you fall, you fall. Because of that, people are cracking up.
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Anxiety And Anxiety Disorders
There is one systematic review examining the effects of yoga on anxiety and anxiety disorders , a Cochrane review on meditation therapy for anxiety disorders , a description of studies on yogic breathing , and one summary .
Most studies described beneficial effects in favour of the yoga interventions, particularly when compared with passive controls , but also compared with active controls such as relaxation response or compared to standard drugs. However, there are currently no meta-analyses available which would clearly differentiate this important issue. At least the AHRQ report stated that yoga was no better than Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction at reducing anxiety in patients with cardiovascular diseases .
Improves Balance And Flexibility
Yoga improves balance and flexibility of the body. Yoga also helps in the reduction of overall body mass. Practicing yoga every day for 15-30 minutes makes a big difference for people who wants to enhance performance by increasing flexibility and balance.
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Data Sources And Searches
The following sources were searched from database inception to 14 May 2019: MEDLINE , EMBASE , PsychINFO , the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials , EMCARE and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database . MeSH headings used were mental disorders or mental disease AND yoga, with all branches entered as keywords . Manual searches were conducted using the reference lists from recovered articles and relevant systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
How Yoga Changes The Brain
Trials on yogic meditation and brain functioning have been conducted since the 1960s, but a landmark moment was a study by Chris Streeter and his team in 2007. Their work revealed that just one hour of yoga asana practice by experienced yoga practitioners was correlated with statistically significant increases in GABA, a chemical that acts as your brains chief inhibitory neurotransmitter. In 2010, Streeter compared the metabolically matched exercise of walking with yoga and found that a session of yoga significantly increased GABA levels in comparison to walking.
The value of this chemical is a curious one: it inhibits signals in the brain, rather than promoting them. In effect, it prevents your brain from becoming too busy, inhibiting fear circuits and stray thoughts often associated with anxiety and depression. People with chronic pain, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and depression express low levels of GABA, manifesting as an inability to shift perception and physiological reactions. Streeters findings support yogas usage for all these conditions, while highlighting yogas potential benefit over other types of physical activity.
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The Mental Health Benefits Of Yoga
Yoga Benefits Melissa Mercedes
If you practice yoga, then you most likely have experienced the high that yoga offersthat feeling like you are grounded in your body, calm, connected, clear, and centered. In this space, it might feel like a dark cloud that was following you around prior to class has suddenly disappeared. Or, that negative thought, emotion, or physical sensation eating away at you has miraculously subsided. You float away from your practice, and no unwanted experience can detract from your calm and peace. This is why yoga is often touted for its calming and relaxing effects on both mind and body.
Above and beyond the calm and relaxation, you also may have experienced a deeper connection between your mind and body, as well as more intimacy with your internal experiences, e.g., thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. And, perhaps you have noticed that with this deeper connection and intimacy comes less judgment and evaluation of those internal experiences. This process translates into that state of bliss we experience after our practice, and arguably leads to less suffering in our lives . Hence, yoga for mental health has received increasing attention from both yogis and scientists alike, with the benefits of yoga for mental health traversing several areas ranging from mood and anxiety disorders to stress reduction.
Improves Quality Of Life
Nowadays, Yoga is common as an adjunct therapy in improving the quality of life for many people across the world. People who practice Yoga on an everyday basis have improved mood and fatigue levels.
Additionally, it has been observed that Yoga reduces post-chemotherapy symptoms like vomiting and nausea which improves the overall Quality of Life. Yoga improves the level of acceptance, relaxation, and invigoration. It is one of the common mental health benefits of yoga.
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Literature Search And Study Selection
The aim of this review was to examine the role of holistic yoga practice, i.e. studies that explored the role of yoga practice which included each of its three elements: yoga postures, yoga-based breathing exercise and yoga-based meditative exercises. We used the following databases to identify studies from inception to July 2019 that have examined effects of yoga on brain health: MEDLINE, PsychINFO, PubMed, Indian Council of Medical Research, and Cochrane. We used the following a priori search terms to identify all the relevant published articles: yoga, hatha yoga and brain health, brain function, MRI, fMRI, brain volumeSPECT, PET. Reference lists of relevant articles were also scanned to locate other published works.
The Effects Of Yoga On Student Mental Health
In college, young adults go through a developmental stage in which they experience many waves of success and failures. When failure is not handled properly, students may experience mental health issues, which may be difficult to overcome. But there is an easy tool that college students can use to fight stress, anxiety, and depressionyoga.
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The Positive Effects Of Dance
Dance-movement therapy can be beneficial to those who participate in it as there are many different physical, emotional, mental advantages. In an experiment conducted by Mehibe Akandere and Banu Demir, it was found that dance-movement therapy, which is many times referred to as simply dance, has a positive impact on the mental maturation of youth enduring depression at a low degree. This is important because many teens in todays world suffer or have suffered from some type of depression. The authors
