Study: Hot yoga three times a week boosts brain power

American actress Jennifer Aniston is a well-known hot yoga enthusiast in Hollywood. She has publicly stated that hot yoga not only helps her shape her body, but also relaxes her mind. However, American scholars have discovered that the benefits of hot yoga are not only body sculpting and stress relief, but it can also enhance brain cognitive abilities and short-term memory!

American actress Jennifer Aniston is a fan of hot yoga. (Photo/taken from the American entertainment website "Examiner.com")

The Daily Mail reported that a study by the University of Illinois in the United States found that middle-aged and elderly subjects over 55 years old who did hot yoga three times a week for eight weeks could significantly enhance their brain cognitive function, and their ability to remember information and switch tasks was also greatly improved.

Middle-aged and elderly people participate in hot yoga to increase brain power

This study involved 108 middle-aged and elderly people aged between 55 and 79, of whom 61 participated in hot yoga classes for 8 consecutive weeks, and the rest performed some stretching and local strengthening exercises, with the same length of time as the hot yoga classes of the experimental group.

After eight weeks of the experiment, the subjects who participated in the hot yoga class had much better speed and accuracy in information memory, psychological flexibility and task switching ability than before the hot yoga class, while those who took the stretching class did not show any significant changes in their cognitive performance. The researchers also said that the results of this study have no obvious correlation with age, race, geography, etc.

Research by American scholars shows that doing hot yoga three times a week can improve the short-term memory and brain cognitive function of middle-aged and elderly subjects.

Neha Gothe, who led the study with kinesiology and community health professor Edward McAuley, noted that hot yoga emphasizes training concentration while changing postures, controlling the body, and regulating breathing. It is likely that the focus on the body, mind, and brain during yoga training extends to life outside of yoga classes, improving the ability to maintain attention.

Professor Edward Macaulay said that the subjects who participated in the hot yoga class showed significant improvements in short-term memory, which is related to the ability to continuously update and use information. This research has been published in The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.

Yoga relieves stress and relaxes the sympathetic nerves

Nehagod pointed out that previous studies have shown that doing yoga has a positive impact on mental health, including reducing levels of anxiety, depression and stress. These studies show that yoga has a significant effect on relaxing the sympathetic nervous system and the body's response to stress.

Nehagod said that since we know that stress and anxiety can affect cognitive behavior, the reason why the subjects who participated in the hot yoga class in this study had improved cognitive ability may be because of reduced stress. However, the researchers also pointed out that this result is still preliminary and more and longer-term studies are needed to confirm the relationship between hot yoga and brain ability.