Differences in brain connectivity between older adults practicing Tai Chi and Water Aerobics: a case-control study.

Background: This study aimed to investigate the neural mechanisms that differentiate mind-body practices from aerobic physical activities and elucidate their effects on cognition and healthy aging. We examined functional brain connectivity in older adults (age > 60) without pre-existing uncontrolled chronic diseases, comparing Tai Chi with Water Aerobics practitioners.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, case-control fMRI study involving two strictly matched groups ( = 32) based on gender, age, education, and years of practice.

Yogic meditation improves objective and subjective sleep quality of healthcare professionals.

Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the impact of yogic meditation in sleep quality of healthy pediatric healthcare professionals.

Method: Subjects were randomized into a meditation group (MG, n = 32), who attended a yogic meditation class held for eight weeks, or a control group (CG, n = 32). Polysomnography (PSG) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores were determined at baseline and after eight weeks.

Effects of Aerobic Training Versus Breathing Exercises on Asthma Control: A Randomized Trial.

Background: Aerobic training and breathing exercises are interventions that improve asthma control. However, the outcomes of these 2 interventions have not been compared.

Objective: To compare the effects of aerobic training versus breathing exercises on clinical control (primary outcome), quality of life, exercise capacity, and airway inflammation in outpatients with moderate-to-severe asthma.

Effects of Yoga Respiratory Practice () on Anxiety, Affect, and Brain Functional Connectivity and Activity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

refers to a set of yoga breathing exercises. Recent evidence suggests that the practice of has positive effects on measures of clinical stress and anxiety. This study explored the impact of a training program on emotion processing, anxiety, and affect.

Greater Anteroposterior Default Mode Network Functional Connectivity in Long-Term Elderly Yoga Practitioners.

Large-scale brain networks exhibit changes in functional connectivity during the aging process. Recent literature data suggests that Yoga and other contemplative practices may revert, at least in part, some of the aging effects in brain functional connectivity, including the Default Mode Network (DMN). The aim of this cross-sectional investigation was to compare resting-state functional connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex-precuneus (PCC-Precuneus) in long-term elderly Yoga practitioners and healthy paired Yoga-naïve controls.

Cognition and brain function in elderly Tai Chi practitioners: A case-control study.

Objective: To compare cognition and brain function in elderly Tai Chi and Water Aerobics practitioners.

Methods: Eight Tai Chi (TC) and 8 Water Aerobics (WA) practitioners matched by gender, education and age underwent neuropsychological and fMRI scan during attention (Stroop Word Color Task) and working memory (N Back) tasks.

Results: Groups were similar for demographic and cognitive variables.

Greater Cortical Thickness in Elderly Female Yoga Practitioners-A Cross-Sectional Study.

Yoga, a mind-body activity that requires attentional engagement, has been associated with positive changes in brain structure and function, especially in areas related to awareness, attention, executive functions and memory. Normal aging, on the other hand, has also been associated with structural and functional brain changes, but these generally involve decreased cognitive functions. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to compare brain cortical thickness (CT) in elderly yoga practitioners and a group of age-matched healthy non-practitioners.

Yoga Training Has Positive Effects on Postural Balance and Its Influence on Activities of Daily Living in People with Multiple Sclerosis: A Pilot Study.

Context: There is a little evidence about the influence of yoga as a complementary therapy for postural balance and its influence on activities of daily living in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of a six-month yoga program on postural balance and subjective impact of postural balance impairment on activities of daily living in people with MS.

Design: Randomized controlled pilot study.

Hatha Yoga practice decreases menopause symptoms and improves quality of life: A randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: Yoga practice includes a group of specific psychophysical techniques. Although previous studies showed beneficial effects of yoga for health and rehabilitation, improving quality of life, there are few studies on the possible therapeutic application of yoga during the climacteric period. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychophysiological effects of Hatha Yoga regular practice in post-menopausal women.

Comparison between breathing and aerobic exercise on clinical control in patients with moderate-to-severe asthma: protocol of a randomized trial.

Background: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disease characterized by reversible obstruction, inflammation and hyperresponsiveness to different stimulus. Aerobic and breathing exercises have been demonstrated to benefit asthmatic patients; however, there is no evidence comparing the effectiveness of these treatments.

Methods/design: This is a prospective, comparative, blinded, and randomized clinical trial with 2 groups that will receive distinct interventions.

Effects of yoga breathing exercises on pulmonary function in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: an exploratory analysis.

Objective: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common form of muscular dystrophy in children, and children with DMD die prematurely because of respiratory failure. We sought to determine the efficacy and safety of yoga breathing exercises, as well as the effects of those exercises on respiratory function, in such children.

Methods: This was a prospective open-label study of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of DMD, recruited from among those followed at the neurology outpatient clinic of a university hospital in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

[The effects of hatha yoga exercises on stress and anxiety levels in mastectomized women].

This article seeks to evaluate the effects of hatha yoga on stress and anxiety levels in mastectomized women. It also investigates the relationship between these levels with the following variables: age; marital status; religion; instruction; profession; smoke addiction; elitism; staging of the disease; and treatment phase. This involved controlled random clinical trial sampling of 45 mastectomized women treated at the Ilza Bianco outpatient service of Santa Rita de Cássia Hospital in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo from March to November 2010.

Yoga respiratory training improves respiratory function and cardiac sympathovagal balance in elderly subjects: a randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: Since ageing is associated with a decline in pulmonary function, heart rate variability and spontaneous baroreflex, and recent studies suggest that yoga respiratory exercises may improve respiratory and cardiovascular function, we hypothesised that yoga respiratory training may improve respiratory function and cardiac autonomic modulation in healthy elderly subjects.

Design: 76 healthy elderly subjects were enrolled in a randomised control trial in Brazil and 29 completed the study (age 68 ± 6 years, 34% males, body mass index 25 ± 3 kg/m²). Subjects were randomised into a 4-month training program (2 classes/week plus home exercises) of either stretching (control, n=14) or respiratory exercises (yoga, n=15).

Aftereffects of exercise and relaxation on blood pressure.

Objective: To study the acute aftereffects of exercise and relaxation, performed alone and in combination, on blood pressure (BP) measured at baseline and during stressful conditions.

Design: Clinical trial with comparison of groups and repeated measures in each group.

Setting: Exercise Hemodynamic Laboratory, University of São Paulo, Brazil.