Yoga Medical News Daily

Exercise programs for the institutionalized elderly do make a difference

This randomized controlled trial conducted in France assessed the effects of targeted exercise programs versus usual care based on the ability to perform activities of daily living and on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory scores of geriatric institutionalized persons. Two exercise programs versus usual care were conducted on 160 institutionalized persons 65 years or older who were able to understand basic motor commands and to move from one position to another.

Interventions performed over 6 months included either an adapted tai chi program (4 times 30 min/wk) or a cognition-action program (2 times 30-45 min/wk) that focused primarily on an adapted guidance of patient-centered communication skills.  

The control group, which received no exercise and the usual care, experienced a decline in activities of daily living over the 12-month period compared with the adapted tai chi and cognition-action groups. Also, the components such as ability to walk, continence, and nutrition, were maintained better in the intervention groups than in the control group. The total Neuropsychiatric Inventory score also worsened significantly in the control group, but was unchanged or improved in the intervention groups.

Conclusion: "Adapted exercise programs can slow down the decline in health-related quality of life among heterogeneous, institutionalized elderly persons."  

Abstract: PubMed. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00623532. "Effects of exercise programs to prevent decline in health-related quality of life in highly deconditioned institutionalized elderly persons: a randomized controlled trial," Archives of Internal Medicine [2010 Jan 25;170(2):162-9]  Photo by Let Ideas Compete

The Effect of Exercise and Alagebrium on the Diastolic Function of the Heart (AGE)

Clinical trial currently seeking participants. Location: The Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine Recruiting Dallas, Texas. The purpose of this study is to determine whether an investigational drug (Alagebrium (generic: ALT-711), a type of medication referred to as an advanced glycaton end-product clever) can be combined with exercise training to reverse the stiffening of the heart that takes place naturally with aging. Tai Chi and/or Yoga Training will be used. Ages Eligible for Study: 65 Years to 80 Years. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that AGE cross-links must be broken before a meaningful improvement in cardiac compliance can occur with exercise training in previously sedentary seniors; the combination of the AGE cross-link breaker, ALT-711, with exercise training will be superior to either intervention alone in improving cardiac compliance in these subjects.

Specific Aim: To test this hypothesis, we will study four groups of previously sedentary senior subjects for one year with the following interventions: A) sedentary controls taking placebo; B) sedentary subjects taking ALT-711; C) subjects undergoing moderate intensity exercise training while taking placebo and D) subjects undergoing moderate intensity exercise training while taking ALT-711.  Details: ClinicalTrials.gov.

Vital@Work Study designed to improve older workers' vitality

"The lifestyle intervention (6 months) consists of three visits to a Personal Vitality Coach (PVC) combined with a Vitality Exercise Programme (VEP). The VEP consists of: 1) once a week a guided yoga group session aimed at relaxation exercises, 2) once a week a guided aerobic workout group session aimed at improving aerobic fitness and increasing muscle strength, and 3) older workers will be asked to perform once a week for at least 45 minutes vigorous physical activity without face-to-face instructions (e.g. fitness). . . . The lifestyle intervention will be evaluated in a RCT among older workers of two major academic hospitals in the Netherlands." Abstract: PubMed. Full text of [2009 Nov 10:9 (1): 408] article at BMC Public Health.

Longevity: potential life span and health span enhancement through practice of the basic yoga meditation regimen

"This chapter [Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2009 August; 1172-20-7] briefly reviews recent psychological, physiological, molecular biological, and anthropological research which has important implications, both direct and indirect, for the recognition and understanding of the potential life span and health span enhancing effects of the basic yoga meditational regimen."  Abstract:  PubMed.