How Yoga Stops The Clock

This article was originally published in Prevention.

Eight years ago, when Sharon Gothard Weisman turned 40, backaches, dark undereye circles, forgetfulness, and fatigue made her feel more like 60. In the hope of finding anti-aging relief, Weisman took a yoga class. An hour later, she felt more relaxed than she had in years. She's been doing yoga three times a week since and says, "I have more energy, strength, and flexibility than most women half my age."She recently ran into an old high school friend who asked, "Don't you get older like the rest of us?"

Many women try yoga for stress reduction, but they stick with it because it makes them feel--and look--younger, says Larry Payne, PhD, a yoga director at Loyola Marymount University and coauthor of Yoga Rx. Unlike traditional exercise, yoga blends anti-aging moves that improve circulation, balance, flexibility, and strength with meditative techniques such as deep breathing. "My students call yoga a natural face-lift," he says. "It cleanses, relaxes, and restores."

The yoga advantage

Minimizes wrinkles Yoga can reduce stress by nearly a third, reports a German study of 24 women. As a result, clenched jaws and furrowed brows relax, helping to smooth away wrinkles. Yoga may also rejuvenate skin's glow by reducing oxidative stress, which breaks down skin's elasticity. In an Indian study of 104 people, oxidative stress levels dropped by 9% after just 10 days of yoga.

Slows weight gain During a 10-year University of Washington study of 15,500 men and women over age 45, those who didn't do yoga gained up to 13.5 pounds. Those who practiced regularly lost up to 5 pounds.

Eases pain Yoga is twice as effective as stretching at relieving back pain, according to another University of Washington study that had 101 people with lower-back pain do either yoga or stretching once a week for 3 months.

Helps you sleep like a baby Levels of the brain's natural nighttime sedative, melatonin, decrease with age, but another Indian study found that when 15 men, ages 25 to 35, practiced yoga daily for 3 months, their melatonin levels increased.

Keeps you sharp Researchers at Jefferson Medical College discovered that just one yoga class helps keep the stress hormone cortisol in line. Elevated amounts may contribute to age-related memory problems.

Try our Stop-the-Clock Yoga Routine.

Comments

[Buddhabelli]

Qi Gong should be considered as well...it's amazing..I've only scratched the surface(literally)
but as a over the hill athletic type it feels like a combo of slow motion Bruce Lee and meditation.
It's really good for the head.
Keep that cortisol down any way you can.
Live long, live well

[chrish]

After 3 years of intensive yoga I felt great - limber, energetic, strong. Then one day at a yoga retreat something snapped? Tore? Exploded? in my back. A year of doctors, chiropractors, massage therapy, acupuncture and even drugs (I was desperate) did not heal me. MRI, bone scan, and numerous x-rays revealed no injury. It's been two years and I am still in daily pain, can't stand up straight, and have gotten soft and weak. Yoga is not for everyone; check with a doctor or chiropractor before and during.

[lwaxanatroi]

Dear Chrish,

Have I got a book for you! Judith Lasater's RELAX AND RENEW contains several series of restorative yoga poses that involve lots of padding and propping, no strain, and total surrender. Give it a try and stop the minute you feel pain. "intensive" yoga isn't the only way to engage your body.

[BetterAmerica]

Yoga is amazing. I highly recommend it for people with neck or back pain or general achiness. It's like a massage for your muscles.

[InformedSources]

Let's not forget that India has no monopoly on yoga. Complete systems of yoga have originated in Tibet, China, Japan, and the Middle East, and in other places I am sure. I practice Indian hatha yoga for pleasure and socializing--all my friends are there!--but my main practice is qigong (Chinese Taoist yoga). It's all good!

[drakke]

The underlying "secret" to the benefits of yoga, pilates, meditation, jigong, etc. is that these practices aid in detoxifying and "balancing" your internal energy , and, thus,help greatly to maintain your health, sanity, well being and overall quality of life. While this is a "new" concept in the "West", it has been known for thousands of years in India and Asia, and elsewhere .

This culture is designed to facilitate stressful living, a sure path to an early death. Why? One reason, borrowing from conspiracy theory, might well be that the "Illuminati" in their quest to make themselves even yet wealthier on the backs of "slave labor" --that's you and me --and maximize population reduction through early and numerous deaths via facilitating the mechanisms for making life as stressful as possible for us, instituted our "way of life". It is not a way to "enlightened consciousness" -- that's for sure. So, it's up to each of us to search out practices that help us to overcome our programmed servitude and unhealthy lifestyles -- yoga, etc.

[rektruax]

What are you talking about? The west has had yoga and pilates for years. We just called them calisthenics and stretching. I know you probably see more to it than that, as is your privilege, but this "balancing" of "internal energy" is a completely subjective concept.

[InformedSources]

No, it isn't completely subjective. Modern science acknowledges that the human nervous system is ruled by two great, antagonistic forces--excitation and inhibition. Excitatory and inhibitory nerve impulses are a result of bioelectric and biochemical energy exchanges within our bodies. They are "internal energy" par excellence. And every one of our actions, and the overall tone of our nervous system in any given moment, depends on a balance of these two forces.

It just so happens that the Chinese and many other traditional medicine systems knew this concept, or a very close equivalent, very well. In Asia they called it Yin (inhibition) and Yang (excitation). Balancing these two primal forces was the basis of Chinese traditional acupuncture, herbal medicine, and self-healing practices like taiji and qigong. A similar dialectic can be found in every traditional healing system, including Indian hatha yoga. The concepts and practice were arrived at through observation, experience, and introspection over generations.

The fact is that the ancients arrived at much the same basic conclusions about human health as we have finally come to acknowledge here in the West. Prolonged, excessive excitation leads to ill health. A balanced life, with a mix of excitation and inhibition, action and repose, activity and rest, is the best lifestyle for health, longevity, and inner peace.

[isis]

I go just once a week and have not had sleeping problems since I started. My boss yelled at me once and I just sat there calmly thinking "I'm glad I do yoga." Later he apologized and asked why I didn't just kick his ass in anger. But really, anger was his problem, not mine.

[arunachala]

yoga's great. i would still like to practice yoga except for my torn pcl

[kellygrrrl]

If you want the REAL DEAL - go directly to Pilates!

if you have any real problem with your body, Yoga is not your friend, esp in a big crowded group

Take Pilates! Trust me on this!

[Cynth]

I agree. love pilates and I find it helps my yoga practice tremendously.

[rini]

I think that yoga keeps you moving like you are young, for at least a couple of more decades. I can still do backbends and splits at 42 and I don't plan on stopping, short of a painful injury or surgery (neither of which is expected anytime soon.)

I don't know if yoga practitioners have chronically lower cortisol levels, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[nah415]

According to Dr. Robert Sapolsky of Stanford, high intelligence and the ability to socialize predispose humans and primates to stress-related diseases more than other animals. Non-life threatening stressors (worrying about money, keeping the boss happy, relationships) trigger the release of stress hormones. Over time these neurochemicals can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, and GI disorders. Prolonged stress also has a detrimental effect on memory, learning and judgment. New research also suggests that chronic stress may actually cause DNA to age faster. However, Dr. Sapolsky believes that the way a person responds to stress is important.

Learning to control your own levels of stress is a key factor in healthy aging and may make the difference between a life burdened with chronic illnesses and a life of health. Yoga has long been touted as a stand in for the fountain of youth and research continues to verify that claim. As the Baby Boomers age, managing stress and feeling younger naturally will continue to be high on our list of priorities as we are a generation that will not "go gentle into that good night."

[InformedSources]

Nice post. I appreciate your detailed summary of Sapolsky's ideas.

[cheverlycats]

Guess I need to finally get to that Yoga class I've been putting off!