I’ve been doing more yoga lately (scheduled it in my week by taking a class at CMC) and feel awesome! Turns out there are more benefits to yoga other than feeling great.
Yoga benefits the brain
I recently read some interesting facts about age-proofing your brain. People in northern India have the lowest rate of Alzheimer’s in the world (< 1% of the population over 65 yrs.) Compared to us in the U.S. where the incidence can be anywhere from 5-17% in those over age 65.
Possible reasons
- One could be due to their mostly whole foods diet and the use of turmeric in cooking (which prevents brain plaguing)
- Relaxation effect of the poses. A recent Boston University MRI- scan study proved that 1 hour of yoga raised levels of GABA neurotransmitters which improve thinking and mood by as much as 27%.
No wonder I feel like a million bucks when I spend as little as 10-15 minutes performing some of my favorite poses. Would love to hear about your experiences with yoga in the comment section below.
Here’s one of my favorite poses with one of my all time best yoga partners. Miss you Stellie!
“The Real Down Dog”