Mental exercise prolongs life...

A mental and spiritual exercise activity is strongly linked to longevity, as it has been proven that a large number of its practitioners live longer than their peers who do not practice it.

This activity is "yoga".

According to a report published by the scientific website "Science Alert", there are many reasons why practicing yoga is very beneficial in old age.

Studies show that it can have a positive effect on many age-related diseases by lowering blood pressure, blood fat levels, and obesity.

Yoga can also relieve depression, stress, and anxiety. It is also linked to a better lifestyle in general, such as following a healthier diet.

Many studies have also revealed that yoga may affect aging at the cellular level.

In one study, participants who practiced yoga showed a 43 percent increase in telomerase enzyme activity, which is a key factor in aging; because it slows down cell aging.

Evidence also suggests that yoga helps us maintain our mental fitness as we age.

As we age, we deteriorate mentally, and learning new things and forming new memories becomes increasingly difficult. The hippocampus, the area of ​​the brain responsible for forming new memories, loses its strength as we age.

However, a study that examined the brains of yoga practitioners found that they generally had more brain mass than people of the same age who did not practice the mental exercise.

This difference was particularly pronounced in the hippocampus. Not only that, but the longer a person practiced yoga, the more brain mass they had.

Another study also found that the average brain mass of people who practiced “meditating” between the ages of 40 and 50 matched the average brain mass of those who did not practice it between the ages of 20 and 30. Meditation is an important part of yoga.

One study looked directly at the relationship between yoga practice and longevity.

The team used data from the National Mortality Index and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey — an ongoing survey that represents the health and nutritional status of the population in the United States.

The 22,000 participants in the study were asked a series of questions about their lifestyle habits, including whether they practiced yoga.

The results were striking.

Eight and a half years after the survey was conducted, the risk of death was nearly two-thirds lower among participants who practiced yoga than among those who did not.

Many of the world’s most famous yogis have lived long and healthy lives.

One of them is Daisy Taylor, a centenarian from Chelmsford, England, who told the BBC in a recent interview on her 105th birthday that she attributes her long and healthy life to yoga, along with her optimism and appreciation for the little things.

In addition, one of the most famous yoga teachers, B. K. S. Iyengar, was told as a child that he only had a few years to live after contracting malaria, typhoid and tuberculosis simultaneously. He discovered yoga and began practicing it for ten hours a day. He not only survived his illness for a few years, but lived to be 95.