Yoga may help older women at risk for Alzheimer's disease

New York: A form of yoga that focuses on breathing, meditation, and mental visualisation appeared beneficial for older women who had risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and concerns about episodes of memory decline, claimed a small study.

Using a type of MRI that measures activity in regions and subregions of the brain, researchers at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found that Kundalini yoga increases activity in a region of the brain impacted by stress and associated with memory decline.

In the study, appearing early online in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, researchers studied the effects of yoga compared to the gold-standard approach of memory enhancement training (MET) on connectivity in subregions of the hippocampus, a critical area of the brain for learning and memory. MET is derived from techniques that use verbal and visual association and practical strategies to improve memory.