Yoga and dementia

The practise of yoga has far reaching benefits that are known to reduce stress levels. It is also thought that it can help dementia patients to improve cognitive and other memory functions.

For the dementia patient, yoga has been shown to have a positive impact on depression and anxiety which can occur at anytime during the disease. 

What is yoga?

Yoga concentrates on strengthening core muscles throughout the body, which can help to build core body strength, as well as helping to improve balance and coordination, as well as supporting muscles to become more supple. Exercises are based on the person’s ability, are slow and gentle on joints and muscles. The idea is that the patient takes each pose as far as is possible for them and enjoys what they are doing too. The benefits of yoga include the fact that the exercise does not involve vigorous activity, although depending on how the patient moves into each pose, they can get quite hot while taking part. As the core body muscles are strengthened, they can support the back and shoulders and help to increase mobility and movement. 

Reducing anxiety

Yoga involves moving through a series of poses, which require you to focus on what you are doing while you are in those poses. The exercises encourages gentle stretching in and out of each pose. When taking part in yoga, you are required to think about movement within the pose and using various muscle groups to hold or stretch into a pose. This helps to keep minds being focussed on the present moment and being aware of your movement and breathing. It is for these reasons that yoga is thought to reduce feelings of anxiety. 

Again this is another activity that caregivers can carry out with the dementia patient and because of the benefits of the exercise, this can help to support the carer’s own mental health and reduce their levels of anxiety, as well as the dementia patients. 

As we have discussed in other articles, reducing anxiety levels is really important in dementia care. An anxious or agitated dementia patient is more likely to wander, or could be susceptible to sundowning episodes (see more on this here). 

Later stage dementia

For more advanced dementia cases, yoga may be less successful an activity if the patient has not practised yoga before. However if the patient has taken part in yoga before they may have some memory of it stored within their brain, which will enable them to connect with it when it comes to practising yoga. If they do enjoy it, then they will be happy to try more sessions. However, if they felt no connection or enjoyment from it, then they may not be able to pick up this activity. Have a think about their history, did they ever take part in any yoga classes or similar type of activity when they were younger?
 

Summary

There are many alternative therapies that are available and thought to have positive benefits for dementia patients, not only in terms of the disease progression but also in terms of the dementia patient’s wellbeing. A balanced diet and regular exercise routine are thought to improve the dementia patient’s wellbeing and reduce the pace at which symptoms progress. In addition to this alternative therapies such as music, art or sensory activities are all thought to play a part in providing a better level of care for the dementia patient, while encouraging them to remain engaged as well as supporting communication and social interaction.