Yoga prevents spinal degeneration

Researchers scanned the vertebral disks of a group of yoga practitioners and compared them with scans of healthy volunteers the same age.  The yogis disks showed less degeneration and researchers speculate it's because of increased spinal nourishment.  Nutrients migrate from blood vessels through the tough outer layer of the disks and the bending and flexing in yoga helps this nutrients reach the inner disks keeping them healthier.


Source:  http://www.yogajournal.com/health/2638?utm_source=myyogamentor&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=textlink

Yoga = Better Sex

Researchers believe that a regular yoga practice helps you to feel more in tune with your body resulting in a boost to your libido.  Women who took part in a 12 week yoga program reported an increased desire, orgasm, and overall satisfaction.  Benefits include increased strength, flexibility, energy level, blood flow to organs (including genitals), and circulation.


Source:  http://www.yogajournal.com/health/2638

The effects of Yoga on chronic pain


 When German researchers studied the effects of Yoga on chronic neck pain they found that yoga reduced pain scores by more than half compared to other self-care exercise programs. And UCLA researchers studied young women suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and about half of those who took part in a six-week Yoga program reported improvements in measures of pain as well as in anxiety and depression.

Source: http://www.yogajournal.com/health/2638

Stay Sharp with Yoga and Meditation

Studies have shown that practicing yoga with a qualified teacher can help your brain work better. Recently, University of Illinois researchers found that immediately following a 20-minute hatha yoga session, study participants completed a set of mental challenges both faster and more accurately than they did after a brisk walk or a jog.  Researchers are in the earliest stages of examining whether yogic practices could also help stave off age-related cognitive decline. "The yogic practices that involve meditation would likely be the ones involved, because of the engagement of control of attention," says Khalsa. Indeed, research has shown that parts of the cerebral cortex—an area of the brain associated with cognitive processing that becomes thinner with age—tend to be thicker in long-term meditators, suggesting that meditation could be a factor in preventing age-related thinning.  

Khalsa is a Harvard neuroscientist who has studied yoga's health effects for 12 years.  http://www.yogajournal.com/health/2638