14 DAY TRIAL // An increasing number of people in the United States are taking up yoga, and apparently they are not in the least wrong in doing so.
A new study in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health documents how, after conducting a series of experiments with the help of 30 volunteers, a team of researchers reached the conclusion that Hatha yoga helps people stay focused when having to perform a certain task.
What's more, these experiments indicated that, all things considered, yoga makes it easier for people to take in new information, retain it and later toy with it according to their needs.
The official website for the University of Illinois informs us that the 30 volunteers who took part in this study were women. All of them were undergraduate students.
These female volunteers were first made to go through a 20-minute-long yoga routine that included carefully controlled contractions and relaxation of various muscle groups, as well as regulated, deep breathing and keeping a meditative posture.
Once they had completed their yoga session, the researchers subjected them to several tests.
These tests allowed the specialists to gather information concerning the women's working memory and inhibitory control.
The women reportedly scored noteworthy results in these tests. What is interesting is that they performed better on these tests after practicing yoga than they did after undergoing aerobic exercise.
Study leader Neha Gothe summed up the findings of this investigation as follows:
“It appears that following yoga practice, the participants were better able to focus their mental resources, process information quickly, more accurately and also learn, hold and update pieces of information more effectively than after performing an aerobic exercise bout.”
“The breathing and meditative exercises aim at calming the mind and body and keeping distracting thoughts away while you focus on your body, posture or breath. Maybe these processes translate beyond yoga practice when you try to perform mental tasks or day-to-day activities,” Neha Gothe further detailed.