Yoga for Brain Health?

by Nina

Exercise, the latest neuroscience suggests, does more to bolster thinking than thinking does. —New York Times

Just a quick post today to let you know—if you don’t already—about the article in last Sunday’s New York Time’s Magazine called How Exercise Could Lead to a Better Brain.

While most current advice for keeping your mind fit as you age focuses on staying intellectually challenged by learning a new language or even by doing crossword puzzles or special "brain exercises" (why does the thought of that make me feel slightly ill?), there is more and more scientific evidence that continuing to exercise is the most important strategy of all. Are you wondering why? The New York Times article explains that the brain, like all muscles and organs, is a tissue, and that exercise seems to slow or reverse the brain’s physical decay, much as it does with muscles.

Unfortunately we don’t yet know how the exercise provided by a yoga practice fits into this, as so far all tests have been on animals either running or doing other aerobic activities. Here's another quote from the article:

“It’s not clear if the activity has to be endurance exercise,” says the psychologist and neuroscientist Arthur F. Kramer, director of the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois and a pre-eminent expert on exercise and the brain. A limited number of studies in the past several years have found cognitive benefits among older people who lifted weights for a year and did not otherwise exercise.”

One advantage of yoga for exercise, though, is how versatile it is. There’s strengthening as well as stretching and balancing. By moving with your breath, either in vinyasas or mini vinyasas, you can obtain some of the benefits of aerobic activity. And, who knows, maybe our inverted poses will turn out to have some special benefits for the brain.

Plank Pose, A Strength-Building Asana

Personally I’m looking forward to the day when more is known about the specific types of exercise that benefit the brain because I really want to design some sequences for brain health! But until then, I’d recommend two strategies:

1. Be sure to include strength building and dynamic movement in your yoga practice, along with stretching and relaxation.
2. Challenge your intellect at the same time you are exercising by experimenting with new poses and maybe even memorizing their Sanskrit names.