Comparative Impacts Of Traditional Yoga And Cued, High-Speed Yoga On Older Adults' Cognitive Performance

Age is the greatest risk factor for cognitive decline. Hatha Yoga (HG) is a feasible practice for helping older adults to maintain or improve cognitive functions. YogaCue (YC) integrates visual and auditory cues into traditional Hatha practice to improve cognitive performance in cognitively healthy older adults. PURPOSE: This study compared improvements in the cognitive performance of older adults following 24 weeks of HG or YC training. METHODS: 21 healthy older adults (YC = 11, HG = 10; 73.7 ± 4.6 y; Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) ≥ 24) participated in the study. Subjects completed a battery of neuropsychological measures, including the computerized National Institute of Health (NIH) Toolbox (Cognitive Module), the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT), and the Trail Making Test parts A and B (TMT-A, TMT-B). Following pre-testing, subjects were stratified according to their score on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) and age, and randomly assigned to YC or the HG. Subjects attended three 1-hour sessions per week for 24 weeks. RESULTS: Significant time effects were seen for the List Sorting Test (LST; p = 0.049, ηp2 = 0.189) and the Fluid Cognition Composite Score (FCS; p = 0.005, ηp2 = 0.352). Pairwise comparison revealed a significant increase in LST (Mdiff ± SE = 7.0 ± 3.4; p = .049; g = .61) and FCS (7.891 ± 2.46; p = 0.005; g = 0.59) following training. No significant main effects or interactions were seen for any other tests in the NIH Cognitive Toolbox. For the HVLT, there were significant time effects for Total Recall (HTR: p = 0.007, ηp2 = 0.328) and Delayed Recall (HDR: p = 0.027, ηp2 = 0.231) and a trend towards a significant time effect for Percent Retained (HPR: p = 0.051, ηp2 = 0.186). All changes were driven by improvements by YC (HTR 3.82 ± 1.32; p = 0.009; g = 0.77; HDR: 2.00 ± 0.69; p = 0.009; d = 0.49; HPR: 15.02 ± 5.96%; p = 0.021; d = 0.31). No significant main effects or interactions were seen for any other components of the HVLT or TMT-A or TMT-B. CONCLUSION: Both YC and HG are valuable tools for improving memory and mitigating age-related cognitive decline. However, HVLT tests reveal that YC may have a greater impact on retaining verbal information than HG. Supported by: Funded by a McKnight Brain Research Foundation Inter-Institutional Cognitive Aging and Memory Interventional (CAMI) Core Grant