Yoga News and Research

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Yoga is an ancient system of practices used to balance the mind and body through exercise, meditation (focusing thoughts), and control of breathing and emotions. Yoga is being studied as a way to relieve stress and treat sleep problems in cancer patients.

Scientists scanned people's brains before and after 45 days of yoga. Here's what changed

In a randomized controlled trial involving 139 healthy adults, 45 days of a standardized yoga program improved mood, self-reported sleep quality, and selected short-term memory measures compared with a waitlist control group. Brain scans from 43 participants also revealed changes in functional connectivity across networks involved in movement, attention, language, and cognitive processing, although the long-term significance remains uncertain

10 Nov 2026

Survey shows Americans miss key everyday fall risk factors

A fear of falling may cause people to avoid stairs, exercise and other daily activities. But that fear can also increase the risk of a fall.

9 Nov 2026

Graded physical activity prescriptions improve functional outcomes in psychiatry

Most of us have heard the advice so often that it has worn smooth, like a stone in a river: get some exercise. A new peer-reviewed Viewpoint in Brain Health, drawing on randomized trials, meta-analyses, and cohort studies, argues that this familiar sentence has been doing the wrong job.

5 Nov 2026

Exercise may improve mood and memory, and researchers say doctors should prescribe it

In a Viewpoint, researchers examined evidence that exercise can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, support cognition, and may help lower the risk of cognitive decline, although evidence for dementia prevention remains largely observational. The authors argue that exercise should be prescribed as a structured component of brain-health care, with individualized recommendations that account for medical conditions, safety, and barriers to participation.

4 Nov 2026

Non-drug and non-surgical low back pain treatments are highly cost-effective options

Non-drug and non-surgical treatments for low back pain, including psychological support, exercise and self-management strategies are cost-effective interventions, according to a study published October 27th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Manuela Loureiro Ferreira from the George Institute for Global Health, Australia, and colleagues.

27 Oct 2026

What you did last week may be the strongest clue to how much you'll exercise this week

Researchers analyzing exercise records from 5.17 million Strava users across 65 countries found that recent exercise history was the strongest predictor of whether individuals would meet a weekly physical activity threshold during the COVID-19 pandemic. Physical activity patterns varied considerably across regions, with greater disruption in many middle-income countries and better adherence associated with greater access to outdoor exercise facilities.

18 Oct 2026

Exercise boosts psychological wellbeing for menopausal women

Engaging in physical activity during menopause can improve depression, mood and overall quality of life, a new study led by UCL researchers has found.

13 Oct 2026

Three months of yoga before surgery revealed a surprising difference in stress hormones

In a non-randomized study of 40 adults with severe obesity awaiting bariatric surgery, researchers found significantly lower plasma noradrenaline levels in yoga participants than in controls after adjusting for baseline measurements. The researchers detected no significant DNA methylation changes in three inflammatory genes and found no clear psychological or metabolic benefits.

12 Oct 2026

Less is more: Exercise rivals common pain meds

From osteoarthritis to a splitting migraine, when you’re experiencing pain, exercise can seem like the last thing you want or think you should do. But according to new Adelaide University research it could be one of the most effective ways to help ease your symptoms.

24 Sep 2026

Exercise offers broad pain relief across acute and chronic conditions

From osteoarthritis to a splitting migraine, when you're experiencing pain, exercise can seem like the last thing you want or think you should do. But according to new Adelaide University research it could be one of the most effective ways to help ease your symptoms.

23 Sep 2026

Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation offers lasting heart health benefits

Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation reduces hospital admissions by a third and heart attack risk by more than a quarter, as well as remaining beneficial in the long term, a new Cochrane review finds.

17 Sep 2026

Yoga with a cognitive twist showed some intriguing benefits in older adults

A 24-week pilot randomized trial found that both traditional Hatha yoga and a faster, cognitively demanding YogaCue program were associated with improvements in cognitive and physical performance in independently living older adults. YogaCue showed promising additional gains in verbal and episodic memory, aerobic fitness, and lower-body power, although the small study could not establish clear superiority over Hatha yoga across all outcomes.

6 Sep 2026

Digital program reduces anxiety and depression in adults with chronic medical conditions

A digital program combining guided movement, breathing and meditation exercises, and coping-skills training reduced anxiety and depression symptoms in adults with chronic medical conditions, according to a new study published August 20th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Puneeta Tandon of the University of Alberta, Canada, and colleagues.

20 Aug 2026

Novel AI system could pave way for more effective digital coaching, rehab tools

A novel AI system capable of recognizing yoga poses with high accuracy could pave the way for more effective digital coaching tools, rehab platforms and movement-monitoring applications.

19 Aug 2026

Controlled breathing shows promise for reducing substance use cravings

Controlled breathing interventions can reduce cravings in people who use substances, including alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, according to a new review published in the scientific journal Addiction.

29 Jul 2026

Gene test helps many breast cancer patients avoid chemotherapy

Many people with breast cancer can safely avoid chemotherapy with the use of a gene test, potentially sparing them unnecessary side effects without increasing the risk of the cancer returning, a large international clinical trial led by UCL has found.

29 May 2026

Special yoga intervention helps cancer survivors manage psychological side effects

University of Rochester Medicine is in the spotlight at a national meeting for a new discovery in integrative oncology: A special yoga intervention, the study shows, goes a step further than other side-effect therapies to improve four domains of physical and psychological side effects that most patients experience, including lifting mood and easing anxiety.

26 May 2026

Yoga and meditation show promise for gut health

This systematic review found that yoga and Buddhist meditation were associated with favorable gut microbiota and metabolite profiles in four human studies involving healthy adults. However, because participants largely followed vegetarian or vegan diets and no randomized controlled trials were included, the findings cannot prove that meditation alone reshapes the gut microbiome.

24 May 2026

Combined workouts and HIIT significantly lower daily blood pressure

Aerobic and resistance training combined, and high intensity interval training (HIIT), are associated with significant reductions in blood pressure over 24 hours, finds a pooled data analysis of the available evidence for several different types of structured exercise, and published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

13 May 2026

Why older adults are turning to edible cannabis for sleep, pain, and mood

Older adults in Colorado were drawn to edible cannabis mainly to manage sleep problems, pain, anxiety, or depression, often after concerns about conventional medicines or limited relief from other treatments. Most participants preferred THC-CBD combination products, but they remained uncertain about dosing, impairment, effectiveness, and how to choose the right cannabinoid ratio.

12 May 2026