Re: Lifestyle and Lifespan

[Guest guest]

Hi Jeff:

I also am under the impression that yoga may provide several benefits - although I have never personally done any physical yoga. But I do not recall ever seeing serious studies that examined the average and maximum lifespans of yogis and other yoga practitioners.

I wonder whether the benefits include a longer lifespan, given the information posted here a year or two ago, which showed CVD to be a much more severe problem in south Asia - where presumably a fairly significant proportion of the population practice yoga - than even in north America.

I am not making a statement here. I am asking if anyone knows of serious evidence one way or the other.

Rodney.

>> Hi Valarie,> > You commented...> > "When I think, "specific targeted exercises", and "modifiable healthy > behaviors..elderly years", I think, "Yoga".> > The study defined exercise as> > "frequency of vigorous exercise sufficient to cause sweat (rarely/never, > <1 time per week, 1-6 times per week, or ?1 times per day)" of which, > and for most people, may not include Yoga.> > You can read some more of a related discussion (and my comments) on > "yoga" as "exericse" in the following threads.> > 25996, 26019, 26034, 27613> > While I am not minimizing the impact of your practice or any Yoga > practice for some general health benefit, Yoga is a very loosely defined > word, and may not always equate to vigorous aerobic exercise, or provide > the benefits in the above study or the recent one we saw on > "runners". Perhaps, as a practitioner/student you may be better able > to answer my request in the above mentioned posts, for such studies on > Yoga that show otherwise.> > Regards> Jeff>

[Guest guest]

Hi Rodney

Thanks. Sounds like we are in agreement.

I do not deny the potential benefits, it is just that the word " yoga "

can mean so many different things and so many different forms of

exercise from very low intensity to very high intensity. Here in

the USA, what many consider " yoga " to be is actually only one " branch "

of yoga, known as Hatha Yoga. And as CRON is about " teasing " out the

finer details in these broader issues, we have to apply the same

reasoning in all areas, including one such as this.

BTW, if you have not looked at the actual article, you may want to

look at it and specifically at Table 2 & 3 on the frequency and amount

of exercise in this study. The group with the highest level of

exercise did not have the best outcome in either the survivors or the

non-survivors. I would cut and paste it here but am on my smartphone

and cant do it from there. I guess it is not so smart.

Regards

Jeff

[Guest guest]

Re: Lifestyle and Lifespan

Posted by: " jnovickrd " jnovickrd@... jnovickrd

Sat Sep 6, 2008 9:48 am (PDT)

Hi Rodney

Thanks. Sounds like we are in agreement.

I do not deny the potential benefits, it is just that the word " yoga "

can mean so many different things and so many different forms of

exercise from very low intensity to very high intensity. Here in

the USA, what many consider " yoga " to be is actually only one " branch "

of yoga, known as Hatha Yoga. And as CRON is about " teasing " out the

finer details in these broader issues, we have to apply the same

reasoning in all areas, including one such as this.

BTW, if you have not looked at the actual article, you may want to

look at it and specifically at Table 2 & 3 on the frequency and amount

of exercise in this study. The group with the highest level of

exercise did not have the best outcome in either the survivors or the

non-survivors. I would cut and paste it here but am on my smartphone

and cant do it from there. I guess it is not so smart.

Regards

Jeff

------------------

Hi Jeff, Siddhananda, Rodney

I always cringe at statement that infer that we don't have medical

benefits to prove that yoga is beneficial. With respect to yoga

we have to use common sense. I practice ashtanga which is a form

of hatha yoga, one which appears to be aerobic in nature because

of its continuous flow. Most dedicated ashtangis practice one

form or other of caloric restriction - it's necessary or you

won't be able to bind in most poses. I can point to studies

done on its benefits, but most of the medical studies have been

done in India. I have links posted in my blog to articles in the web,

organized by a nursing group at the bottom of the side bar of

my blog. The studies done in the US, many of which have been

referred to here, are not of the type done for studies

reported in PubMed, with controlled sample groups. So those

reports won't satisfy the scientific minds in this group. So

what I'm saying, until all of the wealthy celebrities doing yoga

in the US, or the government starts funding medical studies,

we won't have the types of medical studies you would prefer

to demonstrate the health benefits of yoga. That does not

preclude that we can arrive at the conclusions of the benefits

of yoga based on our own anecdotal experience and on non medical

observations reported in the media. By the way, the heads of

ashtanga yoga and of Iyengar hatha yoga are in their 90s and still

active.

Cheers,

Arturo

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Arturo:

Perhaps I should clarify/correct what I should have said about yoga.

It is clear that CRON substantially extends average and maximum lifespan in animals. I have never seen any serious studies showing those benefits for yoga. Nor for a benefit for the diseases of aging from which so many people in 'civilization' suffer (CVD and cancer), and which usually dramatically reduce 'health span' as well as lifespan. But the fact I haven't seen such studies does not mean they do not exist.

But what I should have added is that the benefits of yoga may very well be complementary to those of CRON.

I posted about the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) issue a few days ago. It seems to me this is a quite separate issue from lifespan. While CRON will clearly help a great deal with ADL as well as lifespan, I speculate that yoga+CRON may permit maintenance of ADL performance longer than CRON alone.

This is the 'benefits from yoga' that I had mentioned in the first paragraph of that post of mine.

However I do not do physical yoga. YET (!) But I do meditate. And I am quite open-minded about the possibility that I may find myself doing yoga in the future.

Hope this clarifies my thoughts about yoga. If I saw the right papers they might 'push me over the edge' into starting yoga.

Rodney.

>> Re: Lifestyle and Lifespan> Posted by: "jnovickrd" jnovickrd@... jnovickrd> Sat Sep 6, 2008 9:48 am (PDT)> > Hi Rodney> > Thanks. Sounds like we are in agreement. > > I do not deny the potential benefits, it is just that the word "yoga"> can mean so many different things and so many different forms of> exercise from very low intensity to very high intensity. Here in> the USA, what many consider "yoga" to be is actually only one "branch"> of yoga, known as Hatha Yoga. And as CRON is about "teasing" out the> finer details in these broader issues, we have to apply the same> reasoning in all areas, including one such as this. > > BTW, if you have not looked at the actual article, you may want to> look at it and specifically at Table 2 & 3 on the frequency and amount> of exercise in this study. The group with the highest level of> exercise did not have the best outcome in either the survivors or the> non-survivors. I would cut and paste it here but am on my smartphone> and cant do it from there. I guess it is not so smart. > > Regards> Jeff> ------------------> Hi Jeff, Siddhananda, Rodney> I always cringe at statement that infer that we don't have medical> benefits to prove that yoga is beneficial. With respect to yoga > we have to use common sense. I practice ashtanga which is a form > of hatha yoga, one which appears to be aerobic in nature because > of its continuous flow. Most dedicated ashtangis practice one > form or other of caloric restriction - it's necessary or you > won't be able to bind in most poses. I can point to studies> done on its benefits, but most of the medical studies have been> done in India. I have links posted in my blog to articles in the web, > organized by a nursing group at the bottom of the side bar of> my blog. The studies done in the US, many of which have been> referred to here, are not of the type done for studies > reported in PubMed, with controlled sample groups. So those> reports won't satisfy the scientific minds in this group. So> what I'm saying, until all of the wealthy celebrities doing yoga> in the US, or the government starts funding medical studies, > we won't have the types of medical studies you would prefer > to demonstrate the health benefits of yoga. That does not > preclude that we can arrive at the conclusions of the benefits> of yoga based on our own anecdotal experience and on non medical > observations reported in the media. By the way, the heads of > ashtanga yoga and of Iyengar hatha yoga are in their 90s and still> active.> Cheers,> Arturo>