IN THE NOW
the latest
12
april 2019yogajournal.com.auBreath
vs. asana
in yoga
We’re well aware that yoga helps to reduce
stress and improve focus, but what is it, exactly,
that’s responsible for this? A recent study sought
to discover whether it’s the breath or movement
that’s doing the work. Comparing the effect of a
movement-focused practice group and a
breath-focused practice group, the study
revealed that both groups felt a reduction in
stress, but that only the breath-focused group
showed improvements in sustained attention.
So put down your dog and practice pranayama
for a brain boost! Find the full study at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and search for ‘The
effect of movement-focused and breath-focused
yoga practice on stress parameters and sustained
attention: A randomized controlled pilot study’.Movement for
your memory
Before you completely give your asanas
the boot, take note of another interesting
study that discovered a hormone released
while exercising may improve overall brain
health as well as minimising the damage and
memory loss associated with dementia. In mice,
researchers discovered the irisin levels in the brain increased during physical
activity (swimming), which appeared to help reduce the impact of Alzheimer’s as
well as improving memory. The full study, titled ‘Exercise-linked FNDC5/irisin
rescues synaptic plasticity and memory defects in Alzheimer’s models’ is available