Breast Cancer Now - £4000 raised!!!

We had an amazing day for our yoga and cake event last Friday, 2 August, to raise funds for Breast Cancer Now. 40 yogis rolled out their mats and had a great session in the sunshine followed by scrumptious cakes baked by many yogis who are also talented bakers! Most importantly we raised £4000 for the charity which is absolutely amazing, so thank you everyone for your kind generosity.

Breast Cancer Now - Yoga & Cake - 2 August - HOLD THE DATE


Hello Yogis ....

I have decided to hold a yoga and cake session as my tea making is pretty dreadful and my yoga is slightly better, to raise funds for Breast Cancer Now, the leading breast cancer charity in the UK,  in conjunction with their Afternoon Tea 2024 Campaign. 

I will run this event in the garden, on the deck and the lawn,

on Friday 2 August at 1.30 - 2.30 p.m.

All I ask is that you come along with your mat, enjoy yoga in the garden and of course cake!  But more importantly it would be great if we could raise some funds for this charity.  You can make donations via the Just Giving page I have set up for this event.  Here is the link:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/yoga-and-cake?utm_medium=proxy_fundraising&utm_content=yoga-and-cake&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

I appreciate many of my students won't be able to attend due to work commitments but it would be great if you could make a donation, however big or small.

If you are able to come along please let me know in order that I know how many cakes to bake!!!  If the weather doesn't permit us to go outside on Friday 2 August, I will roll the event to the following week, Friday 9 August.

Excellent podcast from Dr. Chatterjee on pain free movement ....

Why Running Isn’t Bad For Your Knees, How To Exercise Without Pain & Move Faster (Without Even Trying!) with Helen Hall

Click on the link to listen to this interesting podcast, see why head position is so important and the massive benefits of foot rubbing for as little as four minutes a day!

https://drchatterjee.com/why-running-isnt-bad-for-your-knees-how-to-exercise-without-pain-move-faster-without-even-trying-with-helen-hall/

Great article in the Telegraph - My yoga guru mum is still bendy at 81 - here's how you can be too

‘My yoga guru mum is still bendy at 81 – here’s how you can be too’

More midlifers are discovering yoga's benefits, but can this ancient discipline help us to live longer and healthier lives?

Lysanne Currie27 December 2023 • 7:00am

Tight shoulders? Stiff neck? Yoga poses can provide a toolbox of solutions

Yoga teacher Barbara Currie taught her final lesson in December 2023, three months shy of her 82nd birthday. It marks the end of an era – 51 years of teaching yoga – but why is she hanging up her leotard now? The reason might surprise you. She and her 85-year-old husband are going travelling. “We’ve got more to do, more countries we want to see,” she explains, “while we’re both fit, mobile and energetic enough to do it.” 

It’s pretty impressive stuff and evidence of both a youthful attitude and physicality that Barbara mostly puts down to a life of yoga, a practice she took up in Glasgow in 1971, long before most of us had ever heard of a downward dog.

“We’d just moved into the area, I had two children under the age of three, and I was lonely, low and out of shape. No one had heard of yoga back then, but I was so stiff, tired and stressed that I was happy to give a local class a go. 

“I left an hour later walking on air. I knew immediately that yoga was for me. I started to practise regularly and became so pleased with my new yoga-toned shape, energy and positive attitude that I wanted to share the benefits – so I trained to be a teacher.” 

The yoga attitude 

Barbara is my mum. She took me along to one of those early classes when I was three and yoga has been part of my life ever since. Whereas she has religiously taught and practised daily (the six-pack and toned biceps are evidence), my relationship with yoga has been different. It’s always been there: we did the exercises as kids and, when I lived nearby, I’d go to her classes. But as well as being an exercise regime, yoga is a positive mindset that provides energy and resilience. 

Once you know the yoga poses, they not only provide a great workout when done in sequence, but can also be used separately as a kind of “toolbox”. Tight shoulders? Chest expansion or cow. Stiff neck? Head and neck roll. 

For me now – 55, menopausal, sole parent to a 10-year-old and running my own business – yoga has taken a different shape. Most of my practice is in snatched time at home: salute to the sun is my morning go-to and, as Barbara says, “the perfect sequence to work every organ in the body”. I do local yin yoga classes but also frequently dip into my yoga “toolbox” – the pigeon pose sorted out a bout of sciatica, and the mountain pose on tiptoes got rid of menopausal plantar fasciitis (extreme foot pain). It worked. It always does. 

What are the benefits of practising yoga?

One of yoga’s most powerful gifts, especially in mid to late life, is understanding that the body not only tells you what it needs but provides solutions. Yoga gets rid of the “Oh I’m just getting old” mindset and refuses to accept that aches and pains are an inevitable part of ageing. Instead, through regular practice and the increased connection to one’s body, it offers positive solutions to body groans.

Diana O’Reilly, chair of the British Wheel of Yoga, explains: “Yoga is an attitude. It is all about self-regulation, it’s saying, ‘We can create this wonderful life, we can do it ourselves at any age. And this is how.’”

“Yoga connects everything,” adds Fiona Adamson, a yoga sports scientist, who works with professional athletes through her business Yoga Sports Specialist. “It works on all aspects of ourselves. Post-pandemic, people are more willing to explore their health and to pick up little techniques, such as a simple breathing technique that might help with anxiety or depression.”  

“And, of course, one of the huge benefits is the effect on the spine. If you’re as old as your spine and your spine is completely flexible at 60 – you’re young!” 

Barbara concurs: “Think about everything the spine does for us – it allows us to stand, sit, bend, pick up things and live our life smoothly. And that has an effect on our physical and mental health, so if we do become more sedentary, it’s not surprising that other health issues creep in. And of course a flexible spine brings a more youthful appearance.”

For midlifers who want to feel better, tackle aches and pains, stay flexible and toned, with improved mental health and cognition, yoga is a marvellous panacea.

Barbara taught her final yoga lesson just three months shy of her 82nd birthday

What type of yoga is best as we age?

There are so many different types of yoga but four that are great for older adults are:  

Hatha 

A series of slow-paced seated and standing poses with a focus on stretching and breathing. It has myriad benefits for midlifers including alleviating anxiety and depressive symptoms, improving balance and helping sleep.

Chair yoga 

Fantastic if you have mobility or balance issues as it bypasses the need to get down onto the floor. Many yoga poses can be adapted to the chair, and those practising can still reap the benefits, including muscle tone improvement, increased flexibility and stress reduction – all of which can help you feel and look younger. 

Kundalini 

Perfect for those looking for something more spiritual as it combines postures and breathing exercises with meditation and chanting. Benefits range from stress relief to improved cognitive function and greater self-confidence (which can deplete as we age).

Yin yoga 

This focuses on holding poses for longer periods of time (usually three to five minutes for more advanced practitioners). It works on stretching deep connective tissues and is very meditative. Anti-ageing benefits include joint lubrication, an increased sense of calm and greater mobility. 

How to choose the right yoga class 

There are many types of yoga so it’s worth trying some styles to find the right one for you. Some classes offer free trial lessons, or look online for a taster class. “Shop around,” says O’Reilly. “Every teacher is different but when you find a wonderful teacher and a wonderful style of yoga, you will feel it instinctively. You’ll enjoy it and then everything will open up to you.” However, she adds, “We’re not so much teachers as facilitators. We’re facilitating people to become their own teachers.”

What to expect as a yoga beginner 

Some people can be scared off a yoga class because they think it will involve contortions and complicated positions from the word go. “Not at all,” says Barbara. “Yoga classes are so welcoming and all the poses we do have a stage for complete beginners. It’s important to just go at your own pace. There is no competition – you just listen to your body.” 

'She took me to one of those early classes when I was three and yoga has been part of my life since' CREDIT: Rii Schroer

“We start with ‘centring’,” says Adamson. “Bringing awareness to where you are in that moment in time, which immediately begins to reduce cortisol levels.”

Medical conditions or injuries are always taken into account. “Before the class begins, I ask people to tell me if they have any medical conditions or injuries,” Barbara explains. “Some exercises may not be suitable, so when we come round to that one, I will give an alternative pose.”  

And do you need any kit? Most classes that use blocks or straps will provide them, and as for clothes, don’t worry about splashing out on a new outfit. “Just wear something loose and comfortable,” advises Barbara. So what are the disciplines age-defying benefits? 

Yoga alleviates stress and promotes mental wellbeing 

“Yoga’s wonderful stretches release the chronic (and very ageing) tension that is held within the body,” explains Barbara. “By breathing deeply in every posture, you stimulate life-giving oxygen to every cell, as well as calming your mind and aiding deep relaxation. By concentrating on the balancing movements, you take your mind off its troubles, allowing you to feel peaceful.”

The body’s stress response, rooted in ancient survival instincts, involves the release of adrenaline to prepare for a fight-or-flight situation. In modern times, even though there are no imminent threats like sabre-toothed tigers, the body still reacts in the same way. And chronic exposure to stress without sufficient relaxation can lead to health issues such as high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, reduced disease resistance, headaches, cancer and heart attacks. Releasing this tension through yoga stretches improves blood flow, can alleviate symptoms and increases a brain chemical called GABA, linked to better mood and less anxiety. 

Modern research, aided by data from MRIs and EEGs, is now helping us understand how yoga, meditation, and mindfulness practices impact different emotional and mental states. Findings indicate that regular yoga and meditation can lead to changes in brain structure, such as the shrinking of the amygdala, which is considered the brain’s threat centre. 

Yoga can improve brain health and mental sharpness  

Yoga can also improve cognition. As tension decreases, individuals may experience improved clarity and focus. Harvard Medical School reports that regular yoga practice can improve cognitive skills like learning and memory by creating new connections in the brain. Studies reviewed by the journal Brain Plasticity in 2019 show that yoga practitioners have a thicker cerebral cortex and hippocampus, the brain region crucial for processing information and learning.

Yoga can help neurological disorders

According to research in the World Journal of Psychiatry, yoga can also alleviate some symptoms of Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. “Yoga may enhance blood flow to areas of the brain that promote the symptoms of early dementia and delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease,” the report says. “Yoga can also improve the physical disability of [Alzheimer’s patients], such as walking, gait speed and balance.”

In people with multiple sclerosis, clinical trials suggested that those who practised yoga saw improvements in walking speed, fatigue, quality of life and symptoms of depression. And for sufferers of Parkinson’s disease, “yoga exercises can improve flexibility and balance… and promote muscle strength” as well as reducing symptoms like pain and anxiety.

Yoga can help with lung capacity  

Yoga incorporates breathing exercises that enhance lung capacity and regulate respiration. “There’s thought to be no way back from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),” says Fiona Adamson. “But I’m working with people whose lung capacities have massively improved. Their breathing improves, they’re able to walk further and that in turn makes them feel a whole lot better.” 

'Young me would never have believed that, due to yoga, I would still be bending at 81'

Research published in 2023 in the journal Annals of Medicine suggests that yoga, along with controlled breathing and aerobic training, can help lung function in people with asthma. It’s early days but, according to the research: “Breathing training, aerobic training, relaxation training, yoga training and breathing, combined with aerobic training, led to improvements in the levels of forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) levels and peak expiratory flow (PEF).”

And it’s great for your heart

Practising yoga regularly has been linked to improved immune function and reduced blood pressure. One study found significant advantages in those who had been practising yoga for five years or more. “Our results indicate that yoga reduces the age-related deterioration in cardiovascular functions,” the report says.

Yoga makes you look better

The “yoga glow” is real. Yoga-induced relaxation leads to reduced muscular tension, decreased adrenaline secretion, slower breathing and heart rate, and normalised blood pressure. This state of relaxation improves blood flow to the skin and hair follicles and reduces frown lines.

Finally it “reverses” the ageing process

“Regular yoga practice not only improves breathing but results in greater motor control, improved reaction times, balance, agility, stamina, fitness, endurance, functional strength and conditioning, mobility and stability – all anti-ageing benefits,” says Adamson. 

“We know now that certain breathing techniques will light up different areas of the brain. We create different grooves in the brain that are more positive and then we learn how to shift into our parasympathetic nervous system – the part associated with ease and relaxation. At the same time, we’re creating the strength and flexibility to be mobile in life,” she continues. “From that, a different attitude towards ourselves emerges – an attitude of being able to care for ourselves and become optimistic about how we’re going to move forward and live.”

Barbara agrees: “The young, frazzled, depressed me in my late-20s would never have believed that, due to yoga, I would still be bending and stretching at 81 – and about to embark on an exciting new chapter. I am so grateful that yoga has given me the flexibility, strength and energy to not only keep teaching all these years, but to now start a new adventure in my 80s. And yes, I’ll still practise yoga on my travels – that’s another great thing about yoga, you can do it anywhere.”

Always consult your doctor before starting an exercise programme

Walking and yoga ‘can cut risk of cancer spreading or returning’ - Very interesting article in the Guardian

Three studies add weight to growing evidence that physical activity can help patients who have the disease

Andrew Gregory

Tue 6 Jun 2023 18.00 BST

Walking for 30 minutes a day and practising yoga can help reduce fatigue in cancer patients and cut the risk of the disease spreading, coming back or resulting in death, research suggests.

Globally, more than 18 million people develop cancer every year. It is well known that being inactive raises your risk of various forms of the disease.

Now the world’s leading cancer researchers are learning more about the benefits of getting or staying active after being diagnosed. For decades, many oncologists and health professionals have remained reluctant to push patients to exercise in the wake of sometimes gruelling treatment regimes. But the tide appears to be turning.

Three studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world’s largest cancer conference, add weight to growing evidence that physical activity can help, not hinder, patients.

“It was: ‘You’re sick, take it easy and rest,’” Dr Melissa Hudson, a leading expert in cancer survival, said at the conference in Chicago. Now, growing numbers of doctors are of the view that patients should resume exercise, even if only gradually at first, “sooner rather than later”.

The first study was a randomised control trial, the gold standard of medical studies, into the impact of yoga’s effect on inflammation. Inflammation can be a powerful force in cancer development, aiding and abetting tumour growth and spread around the body.

In the study, more than 500 cancer patients with an average age of 56 were recruited from across the US. All had received treatment for the disease between two months and five years earlier.

They were randomised to take up yoga or attend health education classes for a month. Each group took part in 75-minute sessions twice a week for four weeks.

The patients then underwent a series of blood tests. The research, led by the University of Rochester Medical Centre, found those who took up yoga had “significantly lower levels of pro-inflammatory markers” compared with patients in the other group.

“Our data suggest that yoga significantly reduces inflammation among cancer survivors,” the study’s authors wrote in a report published at the ASCO meeting.

“Clinicians should consider prescribing yoga for survivors experiencing inflammation, which may lead to a high chronic toxicity burden and increased risk of progression, recurrence, and second cancers.”

Karen Mustian, the lead researcher, added: “What I say to doctors is you should recommend to them [cancer patients] yoga as an option and you should help them find places in their community where they can do it.”

Twenty years ago, she added, there was a tendency to think all cancer patients should take it easy, but now most doctors recommend exercise. “I think oncology professionals have bought into it.”

In the second study, also led by the University of Rochester Medical Centre, researchers examined yoga’s impact on fatigue and quality of life.

One hundred and seventy-three patients aged 60 or older were enrolled on the trial. Again, the participants were split into two groups. They attended 75-minute yoga or health education classes twice a week for four weeks.

Yoga was found to be better at helping relieve fatigue and maintain quality of life, the research found.

A third study found cancer patients who are active can reduce their risk of dying by almost a fifth.

The six-year research, led by Dr Jurema Telles de Oliveira Lima from the Instituto de Medicina Integral in Brazil, involved more than 2,600 cancer patients in Brazil.

Patients were ranked by their activity levels, with “active” classed as going for at least one 30-minute walk five days a week.

The results showed the risk of death was higher in those with a sedentary lifestyle. After 180 days, 90% of people in the active group were still alive, compared with 74% in the sedentary group.

Lima said anything cancer patients could do to avoid sitting or lying down for long periods, no matter how little, could be helpful. Even performing light chores or carrying shopping home could make a difference, she said.

“We also have to educate the family,” she added. “Because it’s very common that the family wants to protect the older person when they have cancer, like: ‘I’m not going to let him do anything or go anywhere.’ We have to tell the family that it [physical activity] can be best for the patient and also on a psychological level as well.”

Jim Burt, the executive director of programmes at the UK’s National Academy for Social Prescribing, who was not involved with the studies, said: “This research supports the growing body of evidence that demonstrates the vast and varied benefits of exercise for physical and mental health.”

Interesting article in the Telegraph - Nine Rules to Follow if you want to live to 100 and most of the things we do in our yoga sessions

The nine rules to follow if you want to live to 100

Experts say the ageing process shouldn’t create big problems until your late 90s; here's how to keep your body young

ByBoudicca Fox-Leonard16 March 2023 • 11:57am

In the 1950s, the UK had one of the longest life expectancies in the world, ranking seventh globally behind countries such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden – by 2021 the UK was ranked 29th

Life expectancy in the UK has grown at a slower rate than comparable countries over the past seven decades, according to researchers. A new study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, found that the UK lags behind all other countries in the group of G7 advanced economies except the US.

The researchers said this was partly due to income inequality, which rose considerably in the UK during and after the 1980s. In the 1950s, the UK had one of the longest life expectancies in the world, ranking seventh globally behind countries such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden – by 2021 the UK was ranked 29th.

Between 2018 and 2020 average life expectancy at birth in the UK was 79 years for men and 82.9 years for women, according to the ONS. However, since 2011 increases in life expectancy have slowed after decades of steady improvement, prompting much debate about the causes. And there is a fear that, while we are living longer, we’re not necessarily living better – spending many years in poor health, unnecessarily. 

And yet, science, and some so-called superagers, are showing us that ageing is not as inevitable as we think.

At the ripe old age of 97, Johanna Quaas can still lie on her back and reach her toes over her head to touch the ground behind her. You can see her do that and other feats of physical fitness on her Instagram page. As far back as 2012 the geriatric German was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest active competitive gymnast.

 Turning ageing on its head: German gymnast Johanna Quaas is still in amazing shape at 97 CREDIT: Paul Michael Hughes/Guinness World Records

Many gerontologists – scientists who study ageing – believe that Quaas is far from being an outlier: it is within all of us to stay just as fit and supple right up to the age of 100. “The science is that the normal biological process of ageing by itself is not a cause of major problems until your late 90s,” explains Sir Muir Gray, a British physician and a director of the Optimal Ageing Programme. “Her Majesty Elizabeth II and Sir David Attenborough are examples of that.”

Some decline in one’s maximum level of ability is inevitable. “Your pulse rate, for example, and your resilience,” says Sir Muir. “Your ability to recover from something such as a trip or fall, or even lockdown.” But science is showing us that many of the hallmarks of ageing aren’t as inevitable as we might think. 

What we eat, how we exercise and our exposure to stress and pollutants all impact the degree to which the functioning of our longevity switches in our body decline. So why does the fitness and health of so many people decline decades before they even come close to the age of 100, while the likes of Quaas keep tumbling and somersaulting?

“The reason is the consequences of 40 years of sitting,” says Sir Muir, 78, who, true to his message, is walking briskly while talking on the phone. “Genetically we were not developed for the environment we live in now. Our genes were designed for us to be running about all the time, and if we managed to catch any food we put on fat as quickly as possible.”

Most diseases, he says, are caused not by ageing but by the environment we live in. “I never use the word ‘lifestyle’ because that implies it’s all free choice but, if you’re commuting from Barking to Vauxhall and sitting for eight hours at a computer, you don’t really have a lot of free choice.”

Sir Muir Gray cites Sir David Attenborough as an example of somebody who has stayed healthy well into their tenth decade CREDIT: Victoria Jones/PA Wire

While you need a bit of luck, he adds, to avoid Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and some cancers, “most diseases are due to our mismatch with our modern environment”. This is undoubtedly where economic deprivation takes its toll on healthy ageing. 

The other factor contributing to premature ageing is social. “It could be deprivation or the effect of negative thinking.

What’s crucial though is that staving off the ageing process is within all of our powers. And the fight back against ageing need not be arduous, expensive or time consuming. You don’t need to become a bodybuilder or a marathon runner. You don’t need to be able to contort yourself into a pretzel. Being able to get up from the floor unaided is enough.

You certainly don’t need to spend $2 million a year, like 45-year-old Silicon Valley tech mogul Bryan Johnson thinks is necessary in order to turn back the clock. His ultimate goal is to reverse biology and make each of his 78 organs – including his brain, heart, lungs and kidneys – medically 18 years old. 

Johnson apparently wakes up at 5am and conducts an hour-long workout with 25 exercises, takes dozens of supplements including creatine, rinses his teeth with tea tree oil and follows a strict vegan diet, eating 1,977 calories per day.

The late Queen, in contrast, walked with her dogs, rode horses, hiked around the grounds of her estates and otherwise stayed active throughout her life and into her old age.

The key to remaining physically active, says Sir Muir, is: “The Five S’s to do with fitness. Four of them are strength, stamina, skill and suppleness. The fifth is psychological,” he laughs. 

In his opinion, everyone should try to get more active with every year and each new diagnosis that comes along, “despite the well-meaning intention of people who tell you to sit back and get Ocado to deliver”. As such he orders me to go for a brisk 10-minute walk as soon as our call ends. 

Here are the other ways you can keep your body young and function well into “old” age.

Brain

Regular exercise is a key component of maintaining healthy brain function CREDIT: Getty

You can teach an old dog new tricks, and it’s important to, says Sir Muir. “I was taught as a medical student that after the age of 20 your brain cells die off, but as we now know you can forge new circuits between brain cells at any age,” he says. Lifelong learning will promote stronger brain function in old age, as a study by the University of Zurich discovered.

Researchers examined the brains of hundreds of older adults, and discovered that those with an academic background showed far fewer signs of brain degeneration over the course of seven years. 

Similarly, having close ties to friends and family, and participating in meaningful social activities, has been linked to helping maintain thinking skills better in later life and slowing down cognitive decline.

Walking can also stave off brain ageing. A study published last year by the University of California suggested that regular exercise – of 150 minutes a week or more – could go a long way to arresting brain-function decline. The researchers found that exercise keeps the brain young by producing synaptic proteins, which enhance the connections between brain cells.

Good sleep (integral to clearing beta-amyloid, associated with Alzheimer’s, from the brain), minimal stress (keeping inflammation lower), following a Mediterranean diet (DHA is important for brain function) and physical activity are all key factors we can control: “Keeping healthy brain tissue is about keeping that blood flowing to the brain. Challenging yourself, having a sense of purpose and engaging with others are all integral to brain function,” says Sir Muir. 

Heart

Lifting weights has been shown to help keep the heart healthy CREDIT: iStock

Many people assume their risk of heart disease is inherited. “Which is true to an extent,” says Helen Alexander, Nuffield Health’s physiotherapy manager and cardiac rehabilitation lead. “But there are many changes you can make to reduce your risk of developing heart disease as you get older.”

The same risk factors apply for diabetes and chronic kidney disease, she adds.

The most important thing is to reduce your sedentary time. Regular exercise will make your heart and blood circulatory system more efficient, lower your cholesterol level, and also keep your blood pressure at a healthy level. “Try sitting for less than 50 per cent of your waking hours. Try to be on your feet every hour. Take the stairs, get off the bus one stop early, incorporate physical activity into your everyday life,” says Alexander.

You don’t need to be signing up for a half marathon. Aerobic exercise that will benefit your heart should be moderate: “Movement that makes you warm and comfortably breathless,” she says. 

You should also build in resistance and strength training. “We know now that both are equally important.” A study by Iowa State University found that regular strength training lowered the risk of high blood pressure by 32 per cent and decreased the chance of developing metabolic syndrome, which increased the risk of heart attack by 29 per cent.

Alexander recommends strength training two or three times a week. Lifting weights or body weight exercises, such as squats, will help maintain muscle mass and contribute to your overall physical fitness. “As well as helping you avoid heart disease, this will help avoid stroke as well,” says Alexander.

Diet also plays a crucial role in risk factors for heart disease. A study by the University of Athens found that the incidence of heart attack, stroke and irregular heart rhythm increased as ultra-processed food consumption rose. “Following a Mediterranean diet is important for cardiovascular health,” says Sir Muir.

Teeth

Within 20 seconds of consuming sugar, it combines with the bacteria hanging out in your mouth to form an acid that starts to damage your teeth CREDIT: iStock

Dentures might once have seemed inevitable, however by looking after our teeth they can run the course of our lives right alongside us. 

The best way to help your natural teeth last as long as possible, says Dr Martina Hodgson, dentist at thedentalarchitect.com, is to “adopt a twice-daily cleaning routine, floss at night, avoid sugary food and drinks whenever possible and ensure you have a dental check-up twice yearly to catch any potential issues before they become major problems”.

Within 20 seconds of consuming sugar, it combines with the bacteria hanging out in your mouth to form an acid that starts to damage your teeth. As time goes on, this wears away at the layers in your enamel, eventually resulting in a cavity. As we age our gum health becomes an important consideration, says Sir Muir.

Poor oral hygiene can cause receding gums because of plaque building up into tartar. Tartar breeds disease-causing bacteria which affect the gums, causing them to recede towards the tooth root.

“People should go to the dental hygienist more often as they get older, at least twice a year, and should use an electric toothbrush,” says Sir Muir.

Lungs

Whether it's through music or exercise, breathing deeply helps to boost lung health over time CREDIT: Getty

If you’ve tried and failed to give up smoking, “then try again,” says Sir Muir. The chemicals in tobacco smoke damage the delicate lining of the lungs and can cause permanent damage that reduces the ability of the lungs to exchange air efficiently.

Air pollution is an increasing issue. Asthma, COPD, lung cancer and respiratory infections all seem to be exacerbated due to exposure to a variety of environmental air pollutants with the greatest effects due to particulate matter (PM), ozone and nitrogen oxides. “My lungs are a bit damaged as I grew up in Glasgow before the Clean Air Act,” says Sir Muir.   

The good news is that brisk walking can help. When you exercise and your muscles work harder, your body uses more oxygen and produces more carbon dioxide. To cope with this extra demand, your breathing has to increase from about 15 times a minute (12 litres of air) when you are resting, up to about 40–60 times a minute (100 litres of air) during exercise. 

Your circulation also speeds up to take the oxygen to the muscles so that they can keep moving. “It makes your muscles better at extracting oxygen from the blood. Increasing your stamina by any form of exercise that makes you breathe a little quickly will help the whole respiratory system,” says Sir Muir.

Skin

Clear and bright: the late Queen had beautiful skin CREDIT: Getty

Elizabeth II was known for her beautiful skin into old age: “It probably had something to do with always spending the summer in Scotland,” laughs Sir Muir. 

The sun is the biggest culprit for premature ageing, mainly due to UVA rays. Exposure to UV light breaks down your skin’s connective tissue – collagen and elastin fibres, which lie in the deeper layer of skin (dermis).

“The biggest and best investment you can make is a good broad spectrum sunscreen from an early age,” says Dr Zoya Awan, medical director at Secret Aesthetics. 

“Sunscreen does not reverse the signs of ageing skin but it is the most powerful preventative measure in the fight against ageing skin.”

As we age it’s also important to get any suspicious moles checked out. “Keep an eye out for any changes, such as brown spots on your skin which could be melanomas,” says Sir Muir. 

Bones and joints

Yoga and pilates can do wonder for joint health CREDIT: Getty

You might think that knee and hip replacements are inevitable, but they are the result of our environment rather than our genetics. The most important things to do to ensure you reach old age with healthy bones and joints is to “keep active, keep your weight down and focus on suppleness the longer you live,” says Sir Muir. 

Activities such as tai chi, yoga and pilates are recommended. 

You might think that losing an inch in the spine is inevitable as you age, but, says Sir Muir: “While there’s a little bit of bone loss, it’s mostly the effect of 50 years of sitting.”

When we’re younger we might enjoy high-intensity exercise but “a brisk walk is better than a jog at any age”, he says.

He cites the knee and hip injuries of tennis players such as Roger Federer and Andy Murray as being “industrial injuries from playing tennis at a high level, running from one side of the court to another”.

Our ancestors may have had to run away from a sabre-toothed tiger occasionally, “but not every two minutes for four hours, five times a week, which is what tennis players do”.

Focusing on lower intensity activities such as cycling and swimming is advisable for protecting knees and hips in the long term. 

And Sir Muir adds: “It’s never too late to increase suppleness. Most damage is to the soft tissue rather than bone. It’s important to keep moving even if you have joint pain.”

Helen Alexander adds: “Evidence shows that being active maintains the lubrication of joints and the strength of the muscles that surround those joints.” 

As we get older some reduction in muscle mass and bone density is natural, however if you maintain physical activity, it can be minimised “and therefore reduce your risk of falls and fractures”, says Alexander. “Start with small doses and build up slowly, which means you’re less likely to be injured.”

Hands

Stretching hands can help keep them supple over time CREDIT: Getty

They are the tools with which we interact with the world. “Keeping the muscles of the hands strong by using them every day is important,” says Maxim Horwitz, a consultant orthopaedic hand and wrist surgeon in the Hand Unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and founder of the Hand Doctor Practice. 

“The joints and muscles of the hands are like other parts of the body and will wear out with time, but having a healthy diet with food that includes fish oils has been shown to protect joints.”

Eyes

Eye-friendly nutrients can be found in fruit and vegetables such as spinach, red peppers, kale, leeks, avocado, peaches and blueberries CREDIT: Getty

They are our windows onto the world, but can become less clear as we age. 

The lenses of the eyes become less flexible as we get older, making it difficult to focus on close objects – a condition called presbyopia – while age-related macular degeneration (AMD) makes the middle part of your vision blurred or distorted.

Eye-friendly nutrients found in fruit and vegetables such as spinach, red peppers, kale, leeks, avocado, peaches and blueberries can help to protect against AMD, while recent research has shown that eating fish once a week can reduce your risk of developing early AMD by up to 40 per cent.

Cataracts are when the eye’s lens develops cloudy patches, which become bigger over time causing blurry vision and eventual blindness. “It may be that cataracts are due to artificial light, but there’s not much we can do but get our eyes checked on a regular basis,” says Sir Muir. 

While getting a screen break is never a bad idea, he adds: “Better always to leave your desk entirely and go for a brisk walk than to try some eye exercises.”

Growing scientific evidence suggests that aerobic exercise can increase crucial oxygen supplies to the optic nerve and lower pressure in the eye.

Feet

Taking care of unruly toenails and visiting a podiatrist are recommended for optimum foot care CREDIT: Getty

With age comes natural changes in the elasticity and stability of tendons and ligaments, along with aches and pains, bunions and clawing toes. 

Once you’re over the age of 60, visiting a podiatrist can be a wonderful thing, says Sir Muir. “They can help you with thickening nails and other things you might not be able to reach so that you can keep your feet healthy.”

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https://www.sleepschool.org/

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Sleep-Book-Audiobook/B00LI1A4QU

What Man Doesn't Want to be good in bed ... interesting article in the Telegraph and how yoga can help

The yoga exercises that can solve a common male sex problem

Many will feel too embarrassed to seek help, but new research suggests one way to ease premature ejaculation is with regular gentle activity

By Gavin Newsham 7 March 2023 • 6:35pm

It’s an ancient spiritual discipline, beloved of celebrities and revered for both physical and emotional benefits. But yoga also has an advantage one may find surprising: it can help a man last longer in bed.

A new review from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge suggests regular exercise – specifically yoga – can help solve the problem of premature ejaculation. Other studies suggest yogic help is needed in this area; a recent report by the National Health and Social Life Survey in the United States found that a little over 30 per cent of men experienced premature ejaculation.

Unsurprisingly, most will never seek medical help for the problem for fear of embarrassment. And anxiety about performance can only make matters worse, say scientists.

International guidelines define premature ejaculation as climaxing within one minute of penetration. For comparison, the average time for intercourse, according to the NHS, is around five and a half minutes.

Lee Smith is professor of public health at ARU and the main author of the review, which analysed the results of 54 separate studies on premature ejaculation, featuring 3,485 volunteers. “As a mind and body exercise, yoga has multiple physical and mental health benefits,” he says. Regular yoga sessions can boost testosterone and improve body image, one of the major hang-ups of midlife men when it comes to sex, say experts. They will also improve flexibility and muscle strength, teach you to breathe better and to understand your body in greater detail.

But it’s not just about the physical. Smith says: “One of the main benefits of yoga is the prevention and management of anxiety, one of the principal causes of premature ejaculation.”

It’s estimated that 17 per cent of the UK population now present with anxiety or depression (or a combination of the two), something that peaks in the 40-55 age range. According to a study published in Psychology journal in 2012 – one of many on the topic – high stress levels can also inhibit sexual arousal.

While the symptoms of anxiety tend to be emotional, they can also manifest in physical ways with sufferers typically experiencing extreme fatigue, insomnia and headaches. But regular physical exercise, like yoga, can get you back in the mood. The secret is in strengthening and training the pelvic floor muscles, an exercise that not only can help reduce the likelihood of erectile dysfunction but can, in turn, increase your libido. “It also strengthens your body’s endothelial function, leading to a better regulation of blood to all those vital organs,” says Prof Smith.

ARU’s research isn’t the first to suggest a positive link between yoga and improved sexual performance, both in men and women. In 2011, a study led by Dr Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist at the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, studied the effects of a 12-week yoga program on men’s sexual satisfaction, concluding that virtually every sexual function, from desire to performance, strength of erection and ejaculation control, all improved significantly after the trial.

Prof Smith isn’t surprised. “Yoga really is beneficial for multiple domains of men’s sexual health,” he says. “And the best part is that it’s gentle and non-strenuous, making it suitable for all ages.”

Five yoga moves for better sex

1. For pelvic mobility: The Bridge Pose

Lie flat on your back with your arms by your sides and your palms facing up. Bend your knees and lift them up, bringing your feet closer to your bottom. Lift the hips, engaging the core and exhaling as you do. Hold for at least 30 seconds then release.

2. For toned glutes: The Locust Pose

Lie face down with your arms at your side. Lift your chest and legs while you inhale and hold the pose. Breathe out and repeat 5-10 times.

3. For hip mobility: The Standing Bow

Stand with your feet almost touching. Reach back and take your right foot in your hand before bringing it up towards your glutes. Extend the left arm skywards and lean forward, inhaling. Try and hold for up to a minute before repeating on the other side.

4. For stronger inner thighs: The Frog Pose

Begin on your hands and knees and slowly move your knees wider apart. Try to finish with your knees parallel to your hips if you can and, if need be, drop down to your forearms for support.

5. For all-over flexibility: The Supine Twist

Begin on your back. Keep one leg straight on the floor before bringing your other knee into your chest. The same side shoulder as your bent knee should remain on the floor as you pull that knee across your chest.

Struggling with frozen shoulder? Try these simple yoga asanas to get relief

Frozen shoulder is a condition that produces pain in your shoulder. As a result of your inability to move your arm due to this discomfort, you may become stiff and even lose some mobility. Inflammation is typically the cause of a frozen shoulder. The ligaments that connect the shoulder bones to one another are found in the capsule of the shoulder joint. The shoulder bones are unable to move easily within the joint when the capsule is inflamed. Yoga is really helpful to get relief from these issues like frozen shoulder or stiffness etc. It can also help you to gain mobility, enhances the strength of muscles and makes ligaments strong.

By practising yoga daily, the patient is able to improve the flexibility of joints, helps to regain confidence and removes mental stress from body and mind. Patients have to understand that only exercise and yoga solely can’t help. Enough water intake, a balanced diet, less stress and good sleep are also a major part of healing" says, Sarita, Yoga expert and founder of Yog Mansa. She further shared with HT Lifestyle some simple joint mobilisation that is important to practice before any asanas as a warm-up and for flexibility.

Joint movement:

  • Griva Shakti Vikasak Kriya - Neck Exercise

Inhale neck up and exhale neck down (don’t forward neck in cervical spondylitis). 10 times inhale neck in the centre position with exhale slowly move to the right side with no shoulder movement. Same with another side.

  • Kohini Chalo Kriya

Place fingers on shoulders and make a big zero by elbows clockwise and anticlockwise 20 Times. Inhale elbows up and exhale elbows close. This is a chest-opening kriya also. People with lung issues, heart issues and stiffness in the dorsal part can get relief with this simple kriya.

Here are some yoga asanas shared by yoga expert Sarita, that can help you to deal with a frozen shoulder.

1. Tadasana

Make sure your weight is evenly distributed across both feet as you maintain a slightly apart stance. Take a deep breath in, raise your arms above your head, and entwine your fingertips with your palms facing up. On an out breath, roll your shoulders back and down your spine to open up your chest and straighten your posture. Raise your shoulders up towards your ears. Your tongue should also be free of tension in your face's musculature. Keep your gaze steady and your eyes relaxed.

2. Standing Goumukhasan with yoga belt or towel

Now raise your left arm up holding the yoga belt and bring it to the back over the shoulder. Bend the elbow and stretch your right hand to the right side, behind the back. Bend the right elbow and try to grasp the yoga belt. Keep your elbows in the same line. Don’t give much pressure. Do this with another side. Hold according to your comfort with breathing.

3. Triyaktadasan

Interlock your fingers with inhale, stretch your arms up and exhale lateral stretch on the right side, stay there for 30 Seconds or with your comfort. Keep on breathing. Keep your spine straight or else can take wall support. Do this from both sides for better movement and flexibility.

4. Paschim Namaskar

You can do this in a sitting position or in a standing position. Stretch your arms backwards and make a namaskar mudra or palms together. In case you are not able to make a namaskar mudra, you can interlock fingers. In this whole asana, the spine should be straight and the shoulders should be in the back. Don’t drop your shoulders.

Macmillan Cancer Support March Plank Challenge

Macmillan Cancer are running a fundraising challenge for the month of March where they are asking for you to do a three minute plank every day.  I think this challenge has been specifically designed for us!

As you know, since the beginning of the year, we have been pushing ourselves to build up the time we hold in plank.  Not that yoga is competitive, BUT a couple of classes have hit the four minute mark!!  So to ask us yogis to perform a daily three minute plank will be easy!

Being such a fantastic cause we will be raising some money especially as we are plank experts!

Yoga and Golf; a marriage made in heaven!


Yoga and Golf

Yoga and golf: a marriage made in heaven by Christel Thimont!

Iam keen golfer and a qualified yoga instructor.

And recently I realised that I started both activities nearly at the same time, in my early thirties.  This was a time in my life when I needed a way to de-stress; I was starting a new life…

It may not appear obvious right away but golf and yoga do go hand in hand. And this link became very obvious when my knowledge and practice of yoga increased greatly.

In order to play well you need to be able to control your shot and there are two aspects to getting good control.  The first and most important aspect is fitness: you need flexibility, agility and strength.  Yoga gives you all of these.   The second is technique, which you can only attain with coaching and golf practice.   And let’s not forget the significant role that the mind plays in being successful on the course hence a mind-body practice like yoga is perfect for golfers on that level too.

First of all, on the physical level, yoga helps increase strength and strength is definitely needed when playing golf to simply produce an effective powerful swing.  With yoga you do not need to go to the gym, all you need is your own body weight!

Some people might be sceptical about yoga’s ability to improve muscle strength, but research shows that yoga — specifically sequences like sun salutations — can provide significant increases in strength when done on a regular basis.

Yoga also allows you to improve your muscle and cardiovascular endurance. Endurance is essential for helping you maintain a high level of performance for an extended period of time, whether you’re playing in a long tournament or just want to keep your energy up through an entire round of golf especially if you are carrying your clubs too!

There are a couple of ways that yoga improves your endurance.  As far as muscular endurance goes, yoga utilises a lot of isometric exercises (holding on position for a period of time).  As for cardiovascular endurance, advanced Vinyasa yoga classes tend to move quickly and trust me you will notice your heart beat very quickly.

One of the most important benefits of yoga for golfers is gaining more flexibility and mobility.   In order to fully swing a club and rotate your spine from one side to the other, you need a lot of flexibility.  Also the more flexible and the speed of the club, the further you will hit the ball.   The golf swing includes many more movements needed for an efficient swing (wrists, shoulders, hips, knees etc).  Also by improving your mobility and flexibility, you will reduce the risk of injury that so many golfers suffer from, number one being low back pain…

Of course yoga is well known for all its balance poses (one legged and arm-balancing poses) which allows you to improve your stability and balance.  This, in turn, helps you maintain your centre of gravity when you swing which can also help exert a greater amount of force without giving in to outside factors like wind and uneven ground.

On the mental level, yoga helps you improve your ability to concentrate and focus. Whether you’ve only played a few rounds of golf in your life or a few thousands, you know how important concentration and focus are to a successful game.

Many people find that the still, silent portions of a yoga class (especially Savasana, the final resting posture) are some of the most difficult. If you can conquer those and find a way to keep your mind quiet, you’ll be able to transfer that same skill onto the course. This, in turn, will deliver a better game or at least help you keep your temper in check when things don’t go your way.

Last but not least, yoga not only helps prevent injuries, it also helps them heal.  In the world of golf, we do not talk often enough about the effect our favourite activity has on our bodies especially wrists, elbows and back.  During play, golfers encounter a lot of asymmetrical repetitions, which can lead to pain and injury in these areas.   For example, I used to have golfers elbow every season but now that I practice yoga daily, I do not suffer from this any longer.  My arms muscles are stronger and stretched every day thus preventing any other onset of the dreaded condition

I started teaching a few ladies in my golf club since my return to the UK, and those who attend regularly have definitely found that yoga helps them with their game and they have cut their handicap since.

How one hour of slow breathing changed my life - Guardian

Read about the benefits of slow breathing, Yogi’s have known this for ever. Thanks to Jane H for the heads up.

How one hour of slow breathing changed my life‘We’ve been conditioned to breathe too much as well as eat too much. An introductory breathing class fixed my sleep and left me calmer than ever. It took me years to find out why ,

The place looked like something out of an old horror film: all paint-chipped walls, dusty windows, and menacing shadows cast by moonlight. I walked through a gate, up a flight of creaking steps, and knocked on the door.When it swung open, a woman in her 30s with woolly eyebrows and oversize white teeth welcomed me inside. She asked me to take off my shoes, then led me to a cavernous living room, its ceiling painted sky blue with wispy clouds. I took a seat beside a window that rattled in the breeze and watched through jaundiced streetlight as others walked in. A guy with prisoner eyes. A blonde woman with an off-centre bindi on her forehead.I’d come here on the recommendation of my doctor, who’d told me: “A breathing class could help.” It could help strengthen my failing lungs, calm my frazzled mind, maybe give me perspective.AdvertisementFor the past few months, I’d been going through a rough patch. My job was stressing me out and my 130-year-old house was falling apart. I’d just recovered from pneumonia, which I’d also had the year before, and the year before that. I was spending most of my time at home wheezing, working and eating three meals a day out of the same bowl while hunched over week-old newspapers on the couch. I was in a rut– physically, mentally and otherwise. After a few months of living this way, I took my doctor’s advice and signed up for an introductory course in breathing to learn a technique called Sudarshan Kriya.At 7pm, the bushy-browed woman locked the front door, sat in the middle of the group, inserted a cassette tape into a beat-up boom box, and pressed play. She told us to close our eyes. The voice instructed us to inhale slowly through our noses, then to exhale slowly. To focus on our breath. I kept breathing, but nothing happened. No calmness swept over me, no tension released from my tight muscles. Nothing. Ten, maybe 20 minutes passed. I started getting annoyed and a bit resentful that I’d chosen to spend my evening inhaling dusty air on the floor of an old Victorian house. I thought about getting up and leaving, but I didn’t want to be rude. Then something happened. I wasn’t conscious of any transformation taking place. I never felt myself relax or the swarm of nagging thoughts leave my head. But it was as if I’d been taken from one place and deposited somewhere else. It happened in an instant.Fresh approach: texts have focused on novel approaches to breathing for thousands of years. Photograph: Jasper White/Getty ImagesThere was something wet on my head. I lifted my hand to wipe it off and noticed my hair was sopping. I ran my hand down my face, felt the sting of sweat in my eyes and tasted salt. I looked down at my torso and noticed sweat blotches on my sweater and jeans. Everyone had been covered in jackets and hoodies to keep warm. But I had somehow sweated through my clothes as if I’d just run a marathon.AdvertisementThe instructor approached and asked if I was OK, if I’d been sick or had a fever. I told her I felt perfectly fine. The next day I felt even better. As advertised, there was a feeling of calm and quiet that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. I slept well. The little things in life didn’t bother me as much. The tension was gone from my shoulders and neck. This lasted a few days before the feeling faded out.What exactly had happened? How did sitting cross- legged in a strange house and breathing for an hour trigger such a profound reaction?I returned to the breathing class the following week: same experience, fewer waterworks. I didn’t mention any of it to family members or friends. But I worked to understand what had happened, and I spent the next several years trying to figure it out. Over that span of time, I fixed up my house, sorted myself out and got a lead that might answer some of my questions about breathing. I went to Greece to write a story on freediving, the ancient practice of swimming hundreds of feet below the water’s surface on a single breath of air.“There are as many ways to breathe as there are foods to eat,” said one female instructor who had held her breath for more than 8 minutes and once dived below 300ft. “And each way we breathe will affect our bodies in different ways.” Surely someone had studied the effects of this conscious breathing on landlubbers? I found a library’s worth of material. The problem was, the sources were hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years old.Seven books of the Chinese Tao dating back to around 400BC focussed entirely on breathing, how it could kill us or heal us, depending on how we used it. Even earlier, Hindus considered breath and spirit the same thing and described elaborate practices that were meant to balance breathing and preserve both physical and mental health. Then there were the Buddhists, who used breathing not only to lengthen their lives but to reach higher planes of consciousness. Breathing, for all these people, for all these cultures, was powerful medicine.I looked for some kind of verification of these claims in more recent research in pulmonology, the medical discipline that deals with the lungs and the respiratory tract, but found next to nothing. According to what I did find, breathing technique wasn’t important. Many doctors, researchers and scientists I interviewed confirmed this position. Twenty times a minute, 10 times, through the mouth, nose or breathing tube, it’s all the same. The point is to get air in and let the body do the rest. But I kept digging and slowly a story began to unfold. As I found out, I was not the only person who’d recently started asking these questions. While I was paging through texts and interviewing freedivers and super-breathers, scientists at Harvard, Stanford and other renowned institutions were confirming some of the wildest stories I’d been hearing.Big blue: freedivers have led the way in what can be achieved with a single breath. Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPAAdvertisementBut their work wasn’t happening in the pulmonology labs. Pulmonologists, I learned, work mainly on specific maladies of the lungs – collapse, cancer, emphysema. “We’re dealing with emergencies,” one veteran pulmonologist told me. “That’s how the system works.”No, this breathing research has been taking place elsewhere: in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, the easy chairs of dental offices and the safe rooms of mental hospitals. Not the kinds of places where you’d expect to find cutting-edge research into a biological function.Few of these scientists set out to study breathing. But, somehow, in some way, breathing kept finding them. They discovered that our capacity to breathe has changed through the long processes of human evolution and that the way we breathe has become markedly worse since the dawn of the industrial age. They’d also discovered that with some concerted practice we could restore our breathing and when we did we could take control of certain functions of our nervous and immune systems. The ways in which we took those 25,000 breaths we take each day – some 30lb of air that enters and exits our lungs – was in many ways as important as what we ate, how much we exercised, or whatever genes we’d inherited.Since I began researching my book several years ago, attitudes towards the importance of breathing have altered radically. Covid-19 has turned us into a planet of breath-obsessed people. We spend our days covering our mouths and noses with masks, our nights anxious that we might be feeling a cough coming on or some tightness in our chests. As hard as it might be to consider right now, there’s a silver lining in all this. How we breathe may help with health and longevity and paying attention to it is long overdue. Several doctors told me recently that respiratory health has been directly correlated to Covid survival rates and they are now prescribing breathing practices to better defend our bodies against this virus as well as help us better overcome it once we start showing symptoms.A video posted by Dr Sarfaraz Munshi, who is on the frontlines of the pandemic at Queen’s Hospital in London, shows Munshi taking abdominal breaths followed by a short breath-hold, then repeating it five times and ending with a cough. This technique, he suggests, will help purge gunk from the lungs and make for easier breathing. Although there is no scientific evidence to suggest this technique helps coronavirus patients, it is recommended by the director of nursing at the hospital.What I’d like to make clear is that breathing, like any therapy or medication, can’t do everything. Breathing fast, slow, or not at all, can’t make embolisms go away. No breathing can heal stage IV cancer. These severe problems require urgent medical attention. But, like all eastern medicines, breathing techniques are best suited to serve as preventative maintenance, a way to retain balance in the body so that milder problems don’t blossom into more serious health issues. Should we lose that balance from time to time, breathing can often bring it back. Add to this, researchers still have much to learn about this endlessly expansive field and there should be more in-depth scientific research into the area.AdvertisementFor now, most of us see breathing as a passive action, something that we just do: breathe, live; stop breathing, die. But breathing is not binary. It’s not just that we do it that is so important – how we breathe matters, too. I call this awareness and practice of healthy breathing a “lost art”, because it’s not new at all. Most of the techniques I’ve been exploring are ancient. They were created, documented, forgotten and then discovered again in another culture at another time, then forgotten again. This went on for centuries.One thing that every pulmonary researcher I’ve talked to over the past few years has agreed on is that we tend to overbreathe. What’s considered normal today is anywhere between a dozen and 20 breaths a minute, with an average intake of about 0.5 litres or more of air per breath. For those on the high end of respiratory rates, that’s about twice at much as it used to be. Breathing too much can raise blood pressure, overwork the heart and lull our nervous systems into a state of stress. For the body to function as peak efficiency we need to breathe as closely in-line with our metabolic needs as possible. For the majority of us that means breathing less. But that’s harder than it sounds. We’ve become conditioned to breathe too much, just as we’ve been conditioned to eat too much. With some effort and training, however, breathing less can become an unconscious habit.Through my years of travels and travails in respiratory research, there is one lesson, one equation, that I believe is at the root of so much health, happiness and longevity. I’m a bit embarrassed to say it has taken me a decade to figure this out and I realise how insignificant it may seem. But lest we forget, nature is simple but subtle. For me, the perfect breath is this: inhale for about 5.5 seconds, then exhale for 5.5 seconds. That’s 5.5 breaths a minute for a total of about 5.5 litres of air. You can practise this perfect breathing for a few minutes, or a few hours. When we breathe like this, breathing practitioners suggest that circulation in the brain and body will increase while the burden on the heart decreases. All the while the diaphragm – that umbrella-shaped muscle in our chests – will drop lower and rise higher, allowing more air to enter the lungs and assisting in pushing blood throughout the body. For this reason, the diaphragm is sometimes referred to as “the second heart”, because it not only beats to its own rhythm but also affects the rate and strength of the heartbeat.Breathing techniques in the form of classes, videos, books and apps are already an industry. But be aware that the stripped-down approach is as good as any. It requires no batteries, wifi, headgear or smartphones. It costs nothing, takes little time and effort, and you can do it wherever you are, whenever you need. It’s a function our distant ancestors have practised since they crawled out of the sludge 2.5bn years ago, a technique our own species has been perfecting with only our lips, noses and lungs for hundreds of thousands of years.Most days, I treat it like a stretch, something I do after a long time sitting or stressing, to bring myself back to normal. By the law of averages, you will take 670m breaths over your lifetime. Maybe you’ve already taken half of those. Maybe you’re on breath 669,000,000. Maybe you’d like to take a few million more.Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor (Penguin Life, £16.99) is published on 30 July. Buy it for £14.78 from guardianbookshop.com

Regular yoga can help reduce depression - Telegraph.

Regular yoga can help reduce depression, study finds, as experts call for it to be prescribed on NHS  

More than 264 million people are living with depression, according to the World Health Organisation

ByJamie Johnson18 May 2020 • 11:30pm

The higher the number of weekly yoga sessions completed, the greater the effect on reducing depressive symptoms, the researchers said   CREDIT: Martin Morrell 

Regular yoga can help reduce depression for people with other mental health disorders, a new study has found, as experts call for the exercise to be clinically prescribed on the NHS.

The findings, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, are based on a systematic review and data analysis of 13 studies with 632 participants.

The effects were most noticeable for people with depression and schizophrenia, and to some extent, alcohol misuse, the scientists said.

Heather Mason, founder of The Minded Institute, which develops yoga therapy to alleviate physical and mental health conditions believes that the discipline should be elevated by the NHS, so that patients can be referred for tailored courses.

More than 264 million people are living with depression, according to the World Health Organisation.

Depressive symptoms often appear alongside other mental health issues, such as generalised anxiety and psychotic disorders.

Lead author Jacinta Brinsley, from the University of South Australia, along with an international team of researchers, analysed the effects of yoga on a range of mental health disorders including depression, generalised anxiety, mood disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, panic disorders and substance misuse.

On average, each weekly yoga session lasted between 20 and 90 minutes over a period of around two and a half months and included breathing exercises, mindfulness and moving postures.

Yoga was found to have a moderate effect in reducing depressive symptoms when compared with usual, no, or self-help treatments for depression.

The higher the number of weekly yoga sessions completed, the greater the effect on reducing depressive symptoms, the researchers said.

The team wrote: "Consideration of yoga as an evidence based exercise modality alongside conventional forms of exercise is warranted, given the positive results of this review."

They added: "Yoga may provide an additional or alternative strategy to engage people experiencing depression in meaningful physical activity."

This is not the first study to show the benefits of yoga for mental health. 

Last year, Harvard scientists found that half an hour of exercise a day, including yoga, can lower the risk of depression by 17 per cent, in a study of nearly 8,000 people.

The Telegraph understands that senior NHS staff are looking at adding yoga to their list of psychological therapy treatments, but that it would have to be approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, who provide guidance.

At the moment, it is only “socially prescribed” - where GPs, nurses and other primary care professionals can refer patients to a range of local, non-clinical services.

But Ms Mason thinks the NHS should go further.

“There is a growing recognition that this is something that needs to happen,” she said.

“I would like to see an initiative where people are prescribed into yoga classes which are bespoke for mental health issues, including depression.

“In countries where there has been integration, like Sweden, it has been shown to be beneficial.”

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said they were looking at updating their guidelines to include yoga as a form of clinical treatment for depression, but there is no set date for the final guidance to be published.

What are the health benefits of yoga? - Medical News Today

What are the health benefits of yoga?

Last reviewed Mon 23 September 2019

By Hannah Nichols

Reviewed by Daniel Bubnis, MS, NASM-CPT, NASE Level II-CSS

  1. Stress

  2. Anxiety

  3. Depression

  4. Lower back pain

  5. Quality of life

  6. Brain function

  7. Heart disease

  8. Starting yoga

  9. Summary

Yoga is a popular exercise that focuses on breathing, strength, and flexibility. Practicing yoga may provide many physical and mental health benefits.

Between 2012 and 2017, the percentage of people in the United States practicing yoga increased from 9.5% to 14.3% in adults and from 3.1% to 8.4% in children.

The 2012 National Health Interview Survey reported that around 94% of people who practice yoga in the U.S. do so for wellness reasons. Respondents said that yoga benefits their health by:

  • encouraging them to exercise more

  • inspiring them to eat more healthfully

  • improving their sleep quality

  • reducing their stress levels

  • motivating them to reduce alcohol use and smoking

Mounting evidence suggests that yoga may also provide other benefits to health. We list these potential benefits in the sections below.

Reducing stress

Regular yoga practice may help reduce stress and aid relaxation.

People often practice yoga to reduce stress and aid relaxation. Scientists are now learning the mechanisms behind how yoga lowers stress.

Persistent surges of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, may damage blood vessels and elevate blood pressure.

However, research has shown that people who practice yoga regularly have low cortisol levels.

Studies have also found that practicing yoga for at least 3 months may lower cortisol and perceived stress and reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines that cause inflammation.

Relieving anxiety

Although most people feel anxious from time to time, anxiety is also a symptom of many conditions, including panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and phobias.

A 2016 meta-analysis found that practicing Hatha yoga had a promising effect on anxiety. Yoga was also most beneficial in people who had the highest levels of anxiety at the start of the studies.

An older study from 2010 demonstrated that yoga improved mood and anxiety levels more than walking. The researchers suggest that this was due to higher levels of the brain chemical gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).

GABA activity tends to be lower in people with anxiety and mood disorders. The researchers tested GABA activity and found that yoga increased GABA levels in the participants.

A 2017 study evaluated whether school based yoga practice could help children experiencing anxiety. Practicing yoga at the beginning of the school day for 8 weeks improved their well-being and emotional health compared with the control group.

Managing depression

Major depression affects around 17.3 million adults in the U.S. in any given year.

Although medication and talk therapy are common treatments for depression, yoga has had some promising results as a complementary therapy.

A 2017 systematic review found that yoga could reduce depressive symptoms in many populations, including people with depressive disorder, pregnant and postpartum women, and caregivers.

Research from 2017 looked at people with depression that had not responded well to antidepressants.

Study participants who completed 2 months of Sudarshan Kriya yoga experienced a reduction in depressive symptoms, whereas the control group showed no improvements.

Researchers suggest that yoga may lower symptoms of depression by reducing cortisol, or the "stress hormone."

Decreasing lower back pain

Some research suggests that yoga can be better than physical therapy for lower back pain.

Lower back pain affects around 80% of adults at some point in their lives, and it affects their ability to perform daily tasks, exercise, and sleep. Yoga may be a convenient and inexpensive way to provide some relief.

A 2017 analysis linked yoga practice with lower back pain relief and an improvement in back-related function.

Military veterans and active duty military personnel often experience higher rates of chronic pain than the general population, especially in the lower back.

One study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that a 12 week yoga program improved scores for disability and pain intensity and reduced opioid use among military veterans.

Other research suggests that yoga is just as effective at relieving back pain as physical therapy. Yoga may also have lasting benefits for several months.

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Improving quality of life during illness

Many people use yoga as a complementary therapy alongside conventional medical treatments to improve their quality of life.

Some evidence suggests that yoga may improve quality of life for people with the following conditions:

Early research for yoga's role in improving quality of life in many conditions is promising. However, more studies are necessary before researchers are able to draw firm conclusions.

Stimulating brain function

Yoga may stimulate brain function and give a boost to energy levels, according to several studies.

One 2017 study showed that Hatha yoga improved the brain's executive functions, as well as people's mood. Executive functions are brain activities related to goal directed behavior and regulating emotional responses and habits.

Research from 2012 found that a single yoga session improved speed and accuracy of working memory more than one session of aerobic exercise. However, the effects occurred only immediately after the exercise, and they were short term.

Other research suggests that yoga can improve mental flexibility, task switching, and information recall among older adults.

Preventing heart disease

Heart disease causes around 610,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. It remains the leading cause of death.

An analysis of yoga and heart health studies found that yoga reduced risk factors for heart disease, such as body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, and blood pressure.

Yoga may also decrease changes in the blood vessels that contribute to heart disease. One study found that Bikram yoga, which takes place in a heated room, improved vascular health.

The authors of a 2018 study discovered that combining yoga practice and aerobic exercise saw twice the reduction in BMI, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure than taking part in just one or the other.

How to start yoga

A person may wish to join a beginner's yoga class when starting the practice.

Many people regard yoga as a safe form of physical activity for healthy individuals with guidance from a qualified instructor. Although sustaining severe injuries while practicing yoga is rare, some people do experience sprains and strains.

There are many styles of yoga, ranging from relaxing to vigorous. They include:

  • Hatha yoga

  • Vinyasa yoga

  • Bikram yoga

  • Ashtanga yoga

  • Iyengar yoga

  • restorative yoga

When starting yoga, people may wish to join a beginner's class so that an instructor can teach the correct poses and techniques.

Learning from online videos or apps may lead to improper alignment of poses, which may cause injury over time.

Summary

Generally, yoga is a safe way to increase physical activity. It may also have many health benefits.

According to scientific research, yoga may:

  • reduce stress

  • relieve anxiety

  • help manage depression

  • decrease lower back pain

  • improve quality of life in those with chronic conditions or acute illnesses

  • stimulate brain function

  • help prevent heart disease

When trying yoga for the first time, join a class for beginners under the direction of a qualified instructor to avoid injuries.

Never replace doctor-recommended medical treatment with complementary or alternative therapies