Study Reveals Distinct Cognitive Benefits of Yoga for Older Women at Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

According to a recent UCLA Health study, Kundalini yoga reversed ageing and inflammation-associated biomarkers, restored neural pathways, prevented brain matter decline, and improved cognition and memory in older women at risk of Alzheimer’s disease. These benefits were not observed in a group that underwent standard memory training exercises. The results are the latest in a line of research from UCLA Health researchers that compares the benefits of yoga and conventional memory enhancement training for delaying cognitive decline and addressing other dementia risk factors. The studies were published in the journal Translational Psychiatry over the course of 15 years.

This most recent study, headed by UCLA Health psychiatrist Dr. Helen Lavretsky of the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, looked at whether postmenopausal women could use Kundalini yoga early on to prevent cognitive decline and the trajectories of Alzheimer’s disease. Because of a number of factors, including genetics, changes in estrogen levels during menopause, and longer life expectancies, women are approximately twice as likely as men to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

More than 60 women 50 years of age and above with self-reported memory problems and cerebrovascular risk factors were gathered from a UCLA cardiology clinic for the new study. There was an equal division of the women into two groups. For a duration of 12 weeks, one group engaged in weekly Kundalini yoga sessions, while the other group underwent memory enhancement training on a weekly basis. Daily homework assignments were also given to the participants. In Kundalini yoga, breathing exercises and meditation take precedence over physical postures. The UCLA Longevity Center’s memory enhancement training program consists of a range of exercises, like telling stories to help recall items on a list orarranging groceries on a list.

The women were evaluated by researchers for depression, anxiety, subjective memory, and cognition after the first 12 weeks and again after 12 weeks to see how stable any improvements were. Additionally, blood samples were obtained in order to examine the molecules linked to inflammation and the gene expression of aging markers, both of which are risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. To examine alterations in brain matter, a small number of patients underwent MRI assessments as well. Researchers discovered that participants in the Kundalini yoga group experienced a number of improvements not seen in the memory enhancement training group.

These included significant improvement in subjective memory complaints, prevention in brain matter declines, increased connectivity in the hippocampus which manages stress-related memories, and improvement in the peripheral cytokines and gene expression of anti-inflammatory and anti-aging molecules.