How Yoga and Meditation Can Help Alzheimer's Patients Feel Calmer and Happier
For years, researchers have known that exercise is one of the most important factors in reducing the risk for Alzheimer’s.
Research suggests Yoga and Meditation may play a role in prevention and improve symptoms and quality of life for patients and their caregivers.
Here are some of the benefits of Yoga and Meditation for patients with Alzheimer’s and Dementia:
Yoga to Boost Cognitive Thinking
In a series of studies, Lavretsky has shown that people with cognitive impairment see improvement in their cognition, memory, and mood after practicing yoga.
Regular exercise has also been shown to reduce the amyloid plaque in the brain that causes Alzheimer’s in older adults.
But what’s special about yoga?
Yoga can bring the benefit of mindfulness and involves awareness of the movement and breath, posture and concentration on a pose with a breathing exercise.
Meditation to Reduce Stress
Considering meditation can change the brain and improve memory, sleep, and mood in as little as 12 minutes a day of concentrating and being mindful.
The main benefit of meditation—which has been practiced for thousands of years as a way to calm the mind and body and find inner peace—is stress relief, which is nearly as important as exercise in reducing the risk for Alzheimer’s.
Both acute and chronic stress signal the brain to secrete the hormone cortisol, which is highly toxic to just about every system in the body, but especially the brain.
There is no indication that the brain can recover tissue lost through the effects of Alzheimer’s, but patients can still try any stress-relief way that works for them.
Columbia University Department of Neurology, Dra. Caccappolo, PhD, ABPP-CN said:
“Stress can make anything worse, especially memory.”
“The best thing about meditation is that it doesn’t cost anything, and if it can help relieve many symptoms, I encourage patients to try it.”
There are lots of benefits from Yoga and Meditation that will help Patients and Caregivers who are frequently under a tremendous amount of stress particularly to their overall well-being and depressed mood.
“A growing number of studies including ours are showing positive brain and cognitive changes with practice, as well as benefits in longtime meditators compared to novices,” Lavretsky says.
Sources:
https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad150653
https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/health/benefits-yoga-meditation-alzheimers-dementia/
