Yoga and the Brain: Help With Addiction, Secondhand Drinking and Substance Abuse
Posted Dec 09 2010 12:44pm
by Lisa Frederiksen
In a previous post, “ Exercise and the Brain: One Way to Help With Recovery,” I wrote about the importance of exercise as a means of improving the health of the brain’s neural networks. And, as I’ve also previously written, neural networks in the brain control everything we think, feel, say and do. By the same token, we can control the “think, feel, say and do” part — which is where exercise comes in. This post is not about “exercise” in the form of robust physical activity, but rather YOGA!
Not only is yoga good for the “mindfullness” part of brain health, but a new study from Boston Univesrtiy School of Medicine “found that yoga boosted mood more effecively than walking. Doing an hour of yoga three times a week for 12 weeks increasted GABA (a critical brain neurotransmitter — those chemical messagers that make communications between one neuron and the next even possible) levels by 13 percent…”. This quote is from Holly St. Lifer’s article, “Do Yoga, be Happy,” appearing in the January/February 2011 issue of The AARP Magazine. Click here to open the article and read the rest…
Boosting brain health is important to anyone wanting to change their brains — whether they are recovering from an addiction, coping with the impacts of secondhand drinking, moderating their drinking OR simply coping with the stresses of everyday life!
In a previous post, “ Exercise and the Brain: One Way to Help With Recovery,” I wrote about the importance of exercise as a means of improving the health of the brain’s neural networks. And, as I’ve also previously written, neural networks in the brain control everything we think, feel, say and do. By the same token, we can control the “think, feel, say and do” part — which is where exercise comes in. This post is not about “exercise” in the form of robust physical activity, but rather YOGA!
Not only is yoga good for the “mindfullness” part of
brain health, but a new study from Boston Univesrtiy School of Medicine “found that yoga boosted mood more effecively than walking. Doing an hour of yoga three times a week for 12 weeks increasted GABA (a critical brain neurotransmitter — those chemical messagers that make communications between one neuron and the next even possible) levels by 13 percent…”. This quote is from Holly St. Lifer’s article, “Do Yoga, be Happy,” appearing in the January/February 2011 issue of The AARP Magazine. Click here to open the article and read the rest…
Boosting brain health is important to anyone wanting to change their brains — whether they are recovering from an addiction, coping with the impacts of secondhand drinking, moderating their drinking OR simply coping with the stresses of everyday life!