Yoga’s Age-Defying Effects Confirmed by Science

While yoga’s longevity promoting effects have been the subject of legend for millennia, increasingly modern science is confirming this ancient technology for spiritual and physical well-being actually can slow aging and stimulate our regenerative potential.

Yoga has long been believed to be a life-extending practice, with yogis maintaining a level of strength and flexibility late into life far beyond what is considered normal or easily attainable in cultures that don’t practice yoga or related consciousness-body integrating disciplines.

It turns out that 2014 was a watershed year in proving the amazing potential of this at least 5,000-year-old practice in helping to decelerate, and in some cases reverse, various age-related declines in body wide health.

One particularly powerful study published in the journal Age titled Age-related changes in cardiovascular system, autonomic functions, and levels of BDNF of healthy active males: role of yogic practice, found that a brief yoga intervention (3 months) resulted in widespread improvements in cardiovascular and neurological function.

You can check out the details here:

Indian researchers studied healthy active males of three age groups (20-29, 30-39, and 40-49 years) by randomly assigning them to practice one hour of yoga daily for 3 months.

The observed significant differences between the younger and older participants in the study, specifically: ‘Significantly higher values of heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), load in heart (DoP), myocardial oxygen consumption (RPP), and total cholesterol (TC) were noted in senior age group.’ The yogic practice resulted in significant reductions in all of these parameters (HR, BP, DoP, RPP and TC).

Also observed in the older participants were decreases in high frequency (HF), total power (TP), all time domain variables of heart rate variability (HRV), and skin conductance (SC) – all of which increased following yogic practice.

Higher levels of catecholamines (stress hormones) and low frequency (LF) power of HRV were noted in advancement of age, both of which decreased following yogic practice.

Additionally, the senior age group had highest levels of cortisol and adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), both of which decreased following yogic practice.

Finally, brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), serotonin, and dopamine were low in higher age group, but these increased following yogic practice; an indication of improved brain function and cognition.

The researchers concluded: ‘This study revealed that yogic practices might help in the prevention of age-related degeneration by modifying cardiometabolic risk factors, autonomic function, and BDNF in healthy male’.”

This study, however, is not the first to show improvements in age-related physiological declines.

World’s oldest yoga teacher Tao Porchon-Lynch at 93 (She lived 101 years, and was still teaching yoga at 100)

A Plethora of Health Benefits for Age-Related Ailments Through Yoga Practice

There are a number of promising studies revealing the age-defying potential of this ancient practice. Here are some additional benefits confirmed in 2014 alone:

This is just a small sampling of the literature. There is much more research revealing that yoga has even more benefits for aging populations. We encourage readers to go straight to the source itself: pubmed.gov and do some researching (a search done in March 2025 finds 361 studies published there on the mentioned topic).

That said, yoga isn’t really about research, it is about directly experiencing it and engaging in regular practice. We hope this article encourages those unfamiliar with the practice to start doing it today, and to reassure those who are already regular practitioners that they are indeed validated in their yoga efforts and experiences.

Author: Sayer Ji, GreenMedinfo

 

yogaesoteric
March 14, 2025

 

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