Yoga Medical News Daily

Resistance training for seniors benefits cognitive function

While this study did not focus on an intervention directly related to yoga, the resistance part of the intervention could very well be duplicated using yoga exercises; and the balance and tone training part of the article mentions using "tai chi–based forms."   

The study compared the effect of once-weekly and twice-weekly resistance training with that of twice-weekly balance and tone exercise training on the performance of executive cognitive functions in 155 community-dwelling women aged 65 to 75 years living in Vancouver. The women were "allocated to once-weekly (n = 54) or twice-weekly (n = 52) resistance training or twice-weekly balance and tone training (control group) (n = 49). . . .  Both resistance training groups significantly improved their performance on the Stroop test compared with those in the balance and tone group (P < or = .03). Task performance improved by 12.6% and 10.9% in the once-weekly and twice-weekly resistance training groups, respectively; it deteriorated by 0.5% in the balance and tone group. Enhanced selective attention and conflict resolution was significantly associated with increased gait speed.. . .  

CONCLUSION: Twelve months of once-weekly or twice-weekly resistance training benefited the executive cognitive function of selective attention and conflict resolution among senior women. clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00426881. Abstract: PubMed. Published as: "Resistance training and executive functions: a 12-month randomized controlled trial," Archives of Internal Medicine [2010 Jan 25;170(2):170-8]

Moderate exercise performed in midlife to late life reduces later cognitive impairment

This study is not specifically about yoga or pilates, but it does address the effect of moderate exercise on cognition in late life.  Surprisingly, the study concluded that light exercise and vigorous exercise were not significantly associated with decreased risk of mild cognitive impairment; however, moderate exercise was associated with decreased risk of mild cognitive impairment.

The study took place within the The Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, Olmsted County, Minnesota. A total of 1324 subjects without dementia completed a Physical Exercise Questionnaire. An expert consensus panel classified each subject as having normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment. 

The researchers compared frequency of physical exercise among 198 subjects with mild cognitive impairment with the frequency of exercise among 1126 subjects with normal cognition and adjusted the analyses for age, sex, years of education, medical comorbidity, and depression. The research showed that light exercise and vigorous exercise were not significantly associated with a DECREASED risk of mild cognitive impairment.  However, this population-based case-control study did show that any frequency of MODERATE exercise performed in midlife or late life was associated with a reduced odds of having mild cognitive impairment later in life.  Abstract: PubMed.  Article: "Physical exercise, aging, and mild cognitive impairment: a population-based study,"  A.M.A. Archives of Neurology [2010 Jan;67(1):80-6]