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.”

Insomnia and sleep problems are a big problem for many .... try this amazing app

So many of my students complain of sleep problems or have suffered from insomnia for many years. One of my students after many years of searching for tools to help her sleep came across this app which is the only thing that has cured her sleeping issues. I have been spreading the word and another student who has suffered with insomnia for eight years has had her best sleep for the past two weeks using the app. Why don’t you give it a go and see if it helps …

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.

Can yoga improve your sex life?

Can yoga also improve sexual function? We look at the evidence in this article.

READ NOW

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

Yoga is being debated in the House of Lords!

Thanks to Sonia H for the heads up!

21 March 2019

Volume 796

​

Question

 11.22 am

Asked by

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe

Share

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will draw up a strategy and campaign for the expansion, particularly in the National Health Service, of access to yoga and its associated health benefits.

The Earl of Courtown (Con)

Share

My Lords, there is evidence that yoga helps to build strength in healthy adults and can improve health conditions such as high blood pressure. The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days a week, and yoga is one of many activities recommended in their report, Start Active, Stay Active.

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab)

Share

I am very grateful indeed to the noble Earl for such a positive response. I am sure that he will agree with the Secretary of State’s statement last autumn that, if the NHS is to survive, we need more social prescribing by GPs, which will help with the financial position. Given what the noble Earl just said, I am sure he will agree that yoga helps people with mental health problems and back pains, those tackling addictions, and people with obesity—a whole range of subjects. Is he willing to meet a group of representatives to discuss how we might take this forward, particularly in the context of the 10-year programme being drawn up to try to offer people greater movements towards better health while saving the NHS money? I declare an interest as the co-secretary of the All-Party Group on Yoga.

The Earl of Courtown

Share

My Lords, the noble Lord is quite right about the importance of social prescribing—it can be felt right across the population, particularly in relation to mental health. I agree with my right honourable friend the Secretary of State about social prescribing; that is one of his top priorities. The noble Lord asked whether a meeting could be arranged with me, him and other interested parties. I will pass that request on to the Minister responsible so that they can have a useful conversation.

Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)

Share

My Lords, it is acknowledged that yoga is very beneficial for mental health: it provides mindfulness, an ability to make better judgments, to relax, and to take decisions in a sensible and responsible way. In light of that, does my noble friend agree that yoga should now be made obligatory for Members of the House of Commons?

The Earl of Courtown

Share

My Lords, my noble friend makes a very important point about the importance of yoga and the great benefits that it gives to everybody. I have unrolled my yoga mat in my office and am waiting for a lesson from my noble friend Lady Barran, who is a teacher of yoga.

Baroness Walmsley (LD)

Share

My Lords, there appear to be particular benefits of yoga for older people in improving balance and muscle tone, NICE estimates that falls cost the NHS more than £2.3 billion a year, and we know that older people often become lonely, ​so the mental health and social benefits of going to classes also apply. Given those facts, will the Government encourage yoga for older people?

The Earl of Courtown

Share

Yes, the noble Baroness is quite right. The only proviso as far as that is concerned is that more frail elder people should take great care—the noble Baroness makes a hand movement which I think describes her exercise.

Noble Lords

Share

Oh!

The Earl of Courtown

Share

Anyway, deep breath! The noble Baroness is quite right about the importance of social prescribing and yoga being of great advantage to the population.

Baroness Meacher (CB)

Share

My Lords, is the Minister aware that East London NHS mental health trust has for seven years been running and evaluating sports programmes—including yoga, but also many other activities—for people with severe mental health problems? I shall give an example: 100% of those involved in its boxing programme for forensic patients—those with severe mental health problems and a criminal history—have achieved a significant improvement in their mental health and well-being. Will he make NHS England aware of the work in East London and issue guidance to mental health trusts across the country that they should all run a range of sports programmes for people with severe mental health problems?

The Earl of Courtown

Share

The noble Baroness is quite right: the importance of those various forms of activity is well felt. I do not know the event that she described, but I know that Haringey CCG has created a better care fund to improve health and social care services for older people, particularly those with long-term health conditions. Strength and balance is one of the programmes funded by that partnership; that goes back to the question of the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. I will of course make that point to the department, but more and more areas are getting involved in social prescribing, which is promoted by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State and is without doubt doing a great job.

Lord Stone of Blackheath (Lab)

Share

My Lords, I have just discovered that you can do downward dog on these Benches: I invite noble Lords to join me. With the evidence showing that yoga and mindfulness can be good for preventing and curing illnesses, both physical and mental, what progress has been made with the establishment of a national academy for social prescribing? Will representatives of yoga and mindfulness practice be on it?

The Earl of Courtown

Share

Yes, my Lords, engagement with stakeholders on the national academy for social prescribing has already begun and they are being consulted. The academy is under development. I have asked the department and NHS England whether representatives of yoga and mindfulness will be engaged in its development.

Baroness Thornton (Lab)

Share

My Lords, I can bear witness to the efficacy of workplace yoga, as I attended many of the lunchtime sessions organised by my noble friend for seated yoga before the Christmas break. I ​enjoyed them very much and commend them to all Members of the House. Noble Lords will be very relieved to know that MPs, Peers and other staff were not required to don their Lycra during lunchtime. Is the Minister aware of the amount of workplace yoga being encouraged for NHS staff for not only their mental but their physical well-being, for those who have to lift heavy weights and so on? That programme should be rolled out across the whole NHS.

The Earl of Courtown

Share

The noble Baroness makes a good point. What she did not mention is how good yoga is for stress, and how to reduce one’s stress levels with movement, breathing and meditation. I know that yoga classes are available in various workplaces, but I was not aware of the NHS programme. I will, of course, bring it to the attention of the department.

Yogis have been doing this for 2500 years!

Proper Breathing Brings Better Health

Stress reduction, insomnia prevention, emotion control, improved attention—certain breathing techniques can make life better. But where do you start?

Breathing is like solar energy for powering relaxation: it’s a way to regulate emotions that is free, always accessible, inexhaustible and easy to use. Credit: Ruslan Ivanov Getty Images

IN BRIEF

  • A growing number of studies show that breathing techniques are effective against anxiety and insomnia.

  • These techniques influence both physiological factors (by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system) and psychological factors (by diverting attention from thoughts).

  • Because these techniques are safe and easy to use, scientific validation might result in their being more frequently recommended and practiced.

As newborns, we enter the world by inhaling. In leaving, we exhale. (In fact, in many languages the word “exhale” is synonymous with “dying.”) Breathing is so central to life that it is no wonder humankind long ago noted its value not only to survival but to the functioning of the body and mind and began controlling it to improve well-being.

As early as the first millennium B.C., both the Tao religion of China and Hinduism placed importance on a “vital principle” that flows through the body, a kind of energy or internal breath, and viewed respiration as one of its manifestations. The Chinese call this energy qi, and Hindus call it prana (one of the key concepts of yoga).

A little later, in the West, the Greek term pneuma and the Hebrew term rûah referred both to the breath and to the divine presence. In Latin languages, spiritus is at the root of both “spirit” and “respiration.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Recommendations for how to modulate breathing and influence health and mind appeared centuries ago as well. Pranayama (“breath retention”) yoga was the first doctrine to build a theory around respiratory control, holding that controlled breathing was a way to increase longevity.

In more modern times, German psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Schultz developed “autogenic training” in the 1920s as a method of relaxation. The approach is based partly on slow and deep breathing and is probably still the best-known breathing technique for relaxation in the West today. The contemporary forms of mindfulness meditation also emphasize breathing-based exercises.

In fact, every relaxation, calming or meditation technique relies on breathing, which may be the lowest common denominator in all the approaches to calming the body and mind. Research into basic physiology and into the effects of applying breath-control methods lends credence to the value of monitoring and regulating our inhalations and exhalations.

Yoga and meditation have inspired many of the breathing exercises used today. The benefits of controlled respiration were first theoretically posited centuries ago by the practitioners of pranayama yoga. Credit: Getty Images

MIND UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Even a rudimentary understanding of physiology helps to explain why controlled breathing can induce relaxation. Everyone knows that emotions affect the body. When you are happy, for instance, the corners of your mouth turn up automatically, and the edges of your eyes crinkle in a characteristic expression. Similarly, when you are feeling calm and safe, at rest, or engaged in a pleasant social exchange, your breathing slows and deepens. You are under the influence of the parasympathetic nervous system, which produces a relaxing effect. Conversely, when you are feeling frightened, in pain, or tense and uncomfortable, your breathing speeds up and becomes shallower. The sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body’s various reactions to stress, is now activated. Less well known is that the effects also occur in the opposite direction: the state of the body affects emotions. Studies show that when your face smiles, your brain reacts in kind—you experience more pleasant emotions. Breathing, in particular, has a special power over the mind.

This power is evident in patients who have breathing difficulties. When these difficulties are sporadic and acute, they can trigger panic attacks; when they are chronic, they often induce a more muted anxiety. It is estimated that more than 60 percent of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have anxiety or depressive disorders. These disorders probably stem in part from concerns about the consequences of the disease (what could be more distressing than struggling to breathe?), but purely mechanical factors may contribute as well: the difficulty these patients experience often leads to faster breathing, which does not necessarily improve the quality of their oxygen supply but can aggravate their physical discomfort and anxiety.

ADVERTISEMENT

Rapid breathing can contribute to and exacerbates panic attacks through a vicious circle: fear triggers faster breathing, which increases fear. In 2005 Georg Alpers, now at the University of Mannheim in Germany, and his colleagues observed significant and unconscious hyperventilation when people who had a driving phobia took their vehicles on the highway (where they might not be able to pull over if they become agitated).

Whether anxiety derives from breathing problems or other causes, it can be eased by a number of breathing techniques derived from traditional Eastern approaches (see “Six Techniques for Relieving Stress”). For example, “follow your breath,” an exercise that focuses attention on breathing, is one of the first steps in mindfulness meditation, whereas alternate nostril breathing comes from yoga. Combining reassuring thoughts with breathing is an approach incorporated into sophrology, a technique that emphasizes harmony of body and mind and that borrows exercises from many approaches, including yoga and mindfulness.

Overall, research shows that these techniques reduce anxiety, although the anxiety does not disappear completely. Breathing better is a tool, not a panacea. Some methods have been validated by clinical studies; others have not. But all of those I describe in this article apply principles that have been proved effective. They aim to slow, deepen or facilitate breathing, and they use breathing as a focal point or a metronome to distract attention from negative thoughts.

Sign up for Scientific American’s free newsletters.

Sign Up

SPOTLIGHT ON CARDIAC COHERENCE

A close look at one popular technique—cardiac coherence—offers more detail about the ways that breathing exercises promote relaxation. With the help of biofeedback, the approach attempts to coordinate breathing with heart rate, slowing and steadying breathing to slow and stabilize the heartbeat.

The method was developed based on the understanding that slow, deep breathing increases the activity of the vagus nerve, a part of parasympathetic nervous system; the vagus nerve controls and also measures the activity of many internal organs. When the vagus nerve is stimulated, calmness pervades the body: the heart rate slows and becomes regular; blood pressure decreases; muscles relax. When the vagus nerve informs the brain of these changes, it, too, relaxes, increasing feelings of peacefulness. Thus, the technique works through both neurobiological and psychological mechanisms.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cardiac coherence’s stabilization of the heartbeat can dampen anxiety powerfully. Conversely, patients with overactive heartbeats are sometimes misdiagnosed as victims of panic attacks because their racing heartbeat affects their mind.

A typical cardiac coherence exercise involves inhaling for five seconds, then exhaling for the same amount of time (for a 10-second respiratory cycle). Biofeedback devices make it possible to observe on a screen how this deep, regular breathing slows and stabilizes the beats. (The space between two heartbeats on the display is never exactly the same, but it becomes increasingly more consistent with this technique.) Several studies have confirmed the anxiety-diminishing effect of these devices, although the equipment probably has more influence on the motivation to do the exercises (“It makes it seem serious, real”) than on the physiological mechanisms themselves. Simply applying slow breathing with the same conviction and rigor could well give the same result.

Some versions of cardiac coherence recommend spending more time on exhaling than on inhaling (for example, six and four seconds). Indeed, your heart rate increases slightly when you inhale and decreases when you exhale: drawing out the second phase probably exerts a quieting effect on the heart and, by extension, on the brain. This possibility remains to be confirmed by clinical studies, however.

Other work suggests that the emotional impact of the breathing done in cardiac coherence and various other kinds of exercises stems not only from effects on the periphery—on the parasympathetic nervous system—but also from effects on the central nervous system. Breathing may well act directly on the brain itself.

In 2017, for instance, Mark Krasnow of Stanford University and his colleagues showed in mice that a group of neurons that regulates respiratory rhythms (the pre-Bötzinger complex in the brain stem) controls some of the activity of the locus coeruleus, a region involved in attention, wakefulness and anxiety. Breathing techniques may influence this seat of emotions by modulating the activity of the pre-Bötzinger complex.

ADVERTISEMENT

Beyond any direct effects produced by slowed breathing, the attention given to inhaling and exhaling may play a role in the brain’s response. In 2016 Anselm Doll and his colleagues, all then at the Technical University of Munich, showed that this attentional focus eases stress and negative emotions, in particular by activating the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, a regulatory area of the brain, and by reducing activity in the amygdala, which is involved in these emotions.

In addition, paying attention to breathing causes most people to slow it down and to deepen it, which as I have mentioned, is soothing. Cognitive resources are limited, and so when individuals concentrate on breathing, they are not thinking about their worries. Those who practice mindfulness learn to notice when their attention drifts away from breathing and goes back to their concerns, and they train themselves to return periodically to their breathing. This refocusing has a relaxing effect on anyone and helps to combat ruminative thinking in people who have anxiety or depression, especially those who are particularly prone to negative thoughts that run in a loop.

WHEN TO USE BREATHING TECHNIQUES

What is the best time to apply slow-breathing techniques? One is during occasional episodes of stress—for example, before taking an exam, competing in a sporting event or even attending a routine meeting at work. In 2017 Ashwin Kamath of Manipal University in India and his colleagues studied stage fright before a public speaking engagement. The participants, all medical students, spent 15 minutes doing alternate nostril breathing—that is, slowly inhaling through one nostril and exhaling through the other by applying finger pressure to the side of the nose not being used. Compared with members of the control group, participants experienced somewhat less stress when speaking publicly.

These exercises may also help when insomnia strikes. In 2012 Suzanne M. Bertisch of Harvard Medical School and her colleagues reported, based on survey data, that more than 20 percent of American insomniacs do these breathing exercises to sleep better. They may be on to something. In 2015 Cheryl Yang and her team at National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan showed that 20 minutes of slow breathing exercises (six respiration cycles per minute) before going to bed significantly improves sleep. Insomniac participants went to sleep faster, woke up less frequently in the night and went back to sleep faster when they did wake up. On average, it took them only 10 minutes to fall asleep, almost three times faster than normal. The investigators attributed the results both to the calming mediated by the parasympathetic system and to the relaxing effect of focused breathing.

But respiratory techniques do not work only for acute stresses or sleep problems; they can also relieve chronic anxiety. They are particularly effective in people with psychiatric disorders such as phobias, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2015 Stefania Doria and her colleagues at Fatebenefratelli e Oftalmico Hospital in Milan, Italy, offered 10 training sessions of two hours each, spread out over two weeks, to 69 patients with anxiety or depressive disorders. The training included a varied set of breathing techniques (such as abdominal breathing, acceleration and deceleration of rhythm, and alternate nostril breathing.), combined with some yoga stretches. The researchers observed a significant decrease in symptoms at the end of the protocol. Even better, improvement was maintained two and six months later, with follow-up sessions just once a week and some home practice during this period.

ADVERTISEMENT

Breathing exercises also help to counter the accumulation of minor physical tension associated with stress. Therapists recommend doing them regularly during the day, during breaks or at moments of transition between two activities: you simply stop to adjust your posture and allow yourself a few minutes of quiet breathing. Therapists often suggest the “365 method”: at least three times a day, breathe at a rhythm of six cycles per minute (five seconds inhaling, five seconds exhaling) for five minutes. And do it every day, 365 days a year. Some studies even suggest that, in addition to providing immediate relief, regular breathing exercises can make people less vulnerable to stress, by permanently modifying brain circuits. In a practice that may seem counterintuitive, however, counselors may encourage some anxious patients to breathe rapidly instead of slowly, as part of an effort to train them to cope with their anxieties (see box “Inhale for Panic!”).

But why confine breathing techniques to negative emotions? It is also worth applying them during pleasurable moments, to take the time to appreciate and remember them. In short, one can pause and breathe for enjoyment as well as to calm down.

365 : The name given to a common technique recommended by therapists to counter accumulated stress: at least three times a day, breathe six times per minute (inhaling for five seconds and exhaling for five seconds each time) for five minutes. Repeat all 365 days of the year.

OPEN QUESTIONS

Tradition and experience encourage the use of respiratory-control techniques, and scientific studies increasingly suggest that it is a good idea. Nevertheless, further research is still needed, particularly given that some studies lack control groups. One exception stands out: focusing on breathing often is not a good idea for people having a panic attack that stems from anxiety over their physical state (also known as interoceptive anxiety). In this case, focusing on physiology, such as muscle tension or breathing, may actually amplify panic (“Now that I’m paying attention to it, my breathing doesn’t seem regular. Am I choking? What will happen if I suddenly stop breathing?”) For these people, breathing techniques should be tested and practiced under the supervision of a therapist.

Otherwise, considering how often everyone experiences emotional discomfort in their everyday life and its negative consequences on health, we would all do well to regularly pay attention to the way we breathe. Start with brief periods of conscious, quiet breathing several times a day. Breathing is like solar energy for powering relaxation: it’s a way to regulate emotions that is free, always accessible, inexhaustible and easy to use.

In fact, I am mystified that controlled breathing is not recommended and practiced more widely. Perhaps it is perceived as too simple, commonplace and obvious to be a remedy. Faced with the complexity of negotiating the ups and downs of human life, many people may assume that simple solutions cannot be effective.

Or maybe we are intimidated by the sacred aspect of breathing, by its connection to life and, especially, to death. In the 1869 novel The Man Who Laughs, Victor Hugo wrote: “Generations are puffs of breath, that pass away. Man respires, aspires, and expires.” Ultimately, we don’t like to think that we are nothing more than “puffs of breath.”

Six Techniques for Relieving Stress

Here are some commonly used breathing techniques. Five to10 minutes of exercise can relieve sporadic stress and even fend off panic attacks. More regular practice can lower the daily levels of anxiety.

Stand Up Straight

Posture is important for breathing: hold yourself straight, without stiffness, shoulders back, sitting or standing. This body posture facilitates the free play of the respiratory muscles (of the diaphragm and between the ribs). Good posture enables your body to breathe properly on its own.

Follow Your Breath*

Simply observe your respiratory movements: be aware of each inhalation and exhalation. Focus on the sensations you feel as air passes through your nose and throat or on the movements of your chest and belly. When you feel your thoughts drift (which is natural), redirect your attention to your breath.

Abdominal Breathing

Breathe “through your stomach” as much as possible: start by inflating your belly by inhaling, as if to fill it with air, then swell your chest; as you exhale, first “empty” your stomach, then your chest. This type of breathing is easier to observe and test while lying down, with one hand on your stomach.

Rhythmic Breathing

Near the end of each inhalation, pause briefly while mentally counting “1, 2, 3” and holding the air before exhaling. This counting while not breathing can also be done after exhaling or between each inhalation or exhalation. It is often recommended for anxious patients to calm anxiety attacks because it induces a beneficial slowing of the breathing rate.

Alternate Nostrils*

Breathe in and out slowly through one nostril, holding the other one closed using your finger; then reverse and continue by alternating regularly. There are many variations of this exercise—for example, inhaling through one nostril and exhaling through the other. Research suggests that what is most important, aside from slowing the breathing rhythm, is breathing through the nose, which is somewhat more soothing than breathing through your mouth.

Think Reassuring Thoughts While Breathing

With each breath, think soothing thoughts (“I am inhaling calm”). With each exhalation, imagine that you are expelling your fears and worries (“I am exhaling stress”).

*Technique validated by clinical studies.

Inhale for Panic!

Whereas slow breathing soothes, overly rapid breathing can induce feelings of stress and anxiety. This phenomenon is used in behavioral therapy sessions to train anxious patients to confront their emotions directly. By deliberately hyperventilating, patients artificially trigger an unpleasant anxiety, which they get accustomed to feeling and learn to put in perspective. This technique also enables them to see that poor breathing habits amplify their fear.

Rights & Permissions

MORE TO EXPLORE

Efficacy of Paced Breathing for Insomnia: Enhances Vagal Activity and Improves Sleep Quality. H. J. Tsai et al. in Psychophysiology, Vol. 52, No. 3; pages 388–396; March 2015.
Self-Regulation of Breathing as a Primary Treatment for Anxiety. Ravinder Jerath et al. in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, Vol. 40, No. 2, pages 107–115; June 2015.
Mindful Attention to Breath Regulates Emotions via Increased Amygdala-Prefrontal Cortex Connectivity. Anselm Doll in NeuroImage, Vol. 134, pages 305–313; July 1, 2016.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Christophe André

Christophe André is a psychiatrist at the Sainte-Anne Hospital Center in Paris and a pioneer in the therapeutic use of meditation in France. He has contributed significantly to the practice’s dissemination, especially through his writings, which include the international best seller Mindfulness: 25 Ways to Live in the Moment through Art (Rider, 2014)

Memorising chants can help the brain!

wellness

 

 

8876

Neuroscience and the ‘Sanskrit Effect’

By Azriel ReShel on Friday February 23rd, 2018

 

Science Proves the Power of Chanting

Many of us have heard the Gyuto Monks of Tibet. With their extraordinary chanting and low throaty drone of ancient sacred texts, they have kept audiences in the West spellbound with their long, careful and accurate recitations of potent Tibetan Buddhist texts. Sitting in their presence you feel a clarity, and a potent spiritual transference of energy and healing. The Buddhist tradition stems from India and the sacred language of Sanskrit. While Tibetan Buddhists have a rich chanting tradition, in India, this age-old tradition goes back even further.

Sanskrit scholars in India learn to chant ancient texts from a tender age. They chant simple mantras, Sanskrit poetry and prose, along with memorising and chanting the most ancient Sanskrit texts, including the Shukla Yajurveda, which takes six hours to chant. While those listening to these chantings receive the gift of the sacred texts they are sharing with us, the chanting of long texts does, in fact, have an amazing effect on the brain.

Neuroscience shows how rigorous memorising can help the brain. The term the ‘Sanskrit Effect’ was coined by neuroscientist James Hartzell, who studied 21 professionally qualified Sanskrit pandits. He discovered that memorising Vedic mantras increases the size of brain regions associated with cognitive function, including short and long-term memory. This finding corroborates the beliefs of the Indian tradition which holds that memorising and reciting mantras enhances memory and thinking.

Sanskrit pandits train in reciting Sanskrit texts from childhood, for seven years.

An Unexpected Discovery…

Dr Hartzell, a Sanskrit devotee and postdoctoral researcher at Spain’s Basque Centre on Cognition, Brain and Language, spent many years studying and translating Sanskrit and became fascinated by its impact on the brain.

I noticed that the more Sanskrit I studied and translated, the better my verbal memory seemed to become. Fellow students and teachers often remarked on my ability to exactly repeat lecturers’ own sentences when asking them questions in class. Other translators of Sanskrit told me of similar cognitive shifts.

India’s Vedic Sanskrit pandits train for years to orally memorise and exactly recite 3,000-year old oral texts ranging from 40,000 to over 100,000 words. We wanted to find out how such intense verbal memory training affects the physical structure of their brains.

Dr Hartzell’s research is the first study to examine the brains of Sanskrit scholars. Using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at India’s National Brain Research Centre, they scanned the brains of 21 Sanskrit pandits and 21 control subjects.

What we discovered from the structural MRI scanning was remarkable. Numerous regions in the brains of the pandits were dramatically larger than those of controls, with over 10 percent more grey matter across both cerebral hemispheres, and substantial increases in cortical thickness. Although the exact cellular underpinnings of grey matter and cortical thickness measures are still under investigation, increases in these metrics consistently correlate with enhanced cognitive function.

He reports that the right hippocampus of the scholars, a region that plays a vital role in short and long-term memory, and is specialised for patterns, such as sound, spatial and visual patterns, had more grey matter than the brains of the control subjects. The right temporal cortex, associated with speech prosody and voice identity, was also substantially thicker.

Regions in the pandits’ brains were dramatically larger than those of controls.

Past Studies

Dr Hartzell is not sure whether the effect relates particularly to the Sanskrit language and plans to conduct further research. The power of sound and chanting is becoming widely documented, and even short chants have an energising and healing effect on the body and mind of those who are chanting sacred mantras or verses. Interestingly, fifty years ago, a French scientist noted that Christian monks who chanted the Gregorian Chants have exceptional memories.

In 1967, Alfred Tomatis, a French physician, psychologist and ear specialist, studied the effect of chanting on Benedictine monks who had been part of a tradition with a strict schedule of daily chanting of up to eight hours a day. When a new abbott changed this schedule, cutting out the chanting, the monks became tired and lethargic, even though they were getting extra sleep. In fact, the more sleep they got, the more tired they were. Alfred Tomatis believed that the chanting was energising their brains and bodies, so he reintroduced the chanting and the monks were soon full of energy again.

Dr Hartzell’s recent study raises the question whether this kind of memorisation of ancient texts could be helpful in reducing the devastating illness of Alzheimer’s and other memory affecting diseases. Apparently, Ayurvedic doctors from India suggest it is the case and future studies will be conducted, along with more research into Sanskrit.

While we all know the benefits of mindfulness and meditation practices, the findings of Dr Hartzell are truly dramatic. In a world of shrinking attention spans, where we are flooded with information daily, and children display a range of attention deficit disorders, ancient Indian wisdom has much to teach the West. Even introducing small amounts of chanting and recitation could have an amazing effect on all of our brains

Why you need 8 hours sleep a night!

Anybody that practices yoga knows that it helps them sleep better. Well,  have a look at the following clip, from Matthew Walker and you will then see why sleep is so important. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXflBZXAucQ

 

Come to yoga and sleep 8 hours a night!

Yoga for bad backs - Elite Daily.

The Best Yoga Pose For Back Pain Is Incredibly Easy & Can Be Done Almost Anywhere

By Georgina Berbari19 hours ago

SHARE

 

A constant, aching pain your back can ruin your day before it even has a chance to begin. And while it can be tempting to simply mask the feeling with some Advil, there are natural remedies, like yoga, that can help soothe the root of the soreness, rather than put a temporary band-aid on it. However, if you don't have time for a full-on flow, there is one yoga pose for back pain that will get the job done whenever your spine is in need of some major TLC.

Now, it's important to note that, if you've been dealing with chronic back pain for a while now, it's important that you talk to your doctor to see what your treatment options are, and what might work best for you. But, if you've already been-there-done-that, and you have no idea what will make you feel better, at this point, yoga might just be the solution you've been hoping for.

According to research published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, if you find yourself constantly dealing with an achy back, yoga can help to significantly reduce the need for pain medication. The study showed that, of three different groups of people who were suffering from back pain (70 percent of whom were taking meds for it), and were trying various treatments for it, the group who participated in yoga reduced their need for painkillers by a whopping 50 percent.

Now, as a yoga teacher myself, I recommend restorative beginner classes for anyone and everyone experiencing persistent back pain (with the go-ahead from your doctor, of course).

However, if you don't always have time to make it to class, practicing child's pose — or balasana, in Sanskrit — for a few minutes at home will help relieve that lingering upper- and lower-back soreness.

 

expertvillage on YouTube

 

While there are certainly many poses known to relieve back aches and help you return to a pain-free state of being, balasana is the universal pose that can help with a wide range of back tension, without causing further irritation to more intense cases of back discomfort.

Finding your way into a lengthy and restorative child's pose will help your entire body and mind relax, while simultaneously providing a luscious stretch to both your back and your hips.

Since back pain is often caused by poor posture (hello, desk jobs and smartphones), the release that balasana brings to the muscles in the front of your body will help remedy this issue, according to Yoga Outlet. Any lingering tension in the shoulders and neck will slowly melt away as you breathe deeply in this asana, allowing your body to melt slowly into the earth beneath you.

Child's pose is a safe haven where you can decompress and allow the posture to passively stretch the muscles in your back, relieving your sacrum and any pain you might be experiencing there.

Your breath is an important tool here, too, so remember to close your eyes and activate those deep belly breaths — or your "Ujjayi" breathing.

Remember, if you need to, you can make your child's pose even more restorative, by including props to support your head and torso.

 

DiTuroProductions on YouTube

While the setup for this version of balasana does require a bit more effort on your part, I promise, it's totally worth it, my friends. As you rest in this luxuriously comfortable position, again, tune into your prana, which is your breath, or life force.

On each inhale, allow your shoulder blades to rise, expand, and spread away from one other, filling each and every crevice of your body with sweet air. On your long exhales, envision your shoulder blades being released, while gently melting toward the earth and becoming one with the cushion beneath you.

Hope you feel better soon, my fellow yogis!