Our list of reasons to go to yoga class is steadily engulfing our list of reasons to stay home and be lazy, and this isn't going to help. A new study revealed that brain performance is improved after just 20 minutes of yoga, as compared with 20 minutes of aerobic exercise. The study measured both the speed and the accuracy of the participants on brain functioning tests, and both were improved after yoga.
Though the sample of the study wasn't very well-rounded — they tested on 30 young college women — the implications of the results seem to speak volumes about how much important information we don't yet know regarding the relationship between brain function, meditation, and stretching. Study researcher Neha Gothe, a professor of kinesiology, health and sport studies, said, "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."
Since we're always looking for the next best way to beat the inevitable p.m. slump, this is promising news, indeed. If 20 minutes of warrior poses at our desks is enough to propel our minds into productivity, count us in. (The Huffington Post.)
Photo: Courtesy of Lululemon.