Daily meditation may alter the course of Alzheimer's

Recent research has found that short daily practice of mind-body therapy may help alleviate some of the signs and symptoms that often precede dementia.

The researchers behind the new study assessed a group of older adults experiencing memory difficulties who practiced 12 minutes per day of music listening or simple yoga meditation for 12 weeks.

Samples of their blood from before and after the 3 months of therapy revealed changes in levels of certain markers with associations to cell aging and Alzheimer s disease.



These changes also linked directly to improvements in subjective assessments of cognitive function, mood, sleep, and quality of life.

Dr. Kim Innes, a professor at West Virginia University School of Public Health in Morgantown, led the study and is first author of the study paper, which features in the Journal of Alzheimer s Disease.

Symptoms of Alzheimer s disease, such as a gradual decline in the ability to remember, think, and make decisions, emerge long after the changes in the brain that cause them have already taken hold.

For this reason, and because of the difficulties of diagnosing this form of dementia from symptoms, researchers are pushing for a model that "defines Alzheimer s by brain changes, not symptoms.

Symptoms of Alzheimer s disease, such as a gradual decline in the ability to remember, think, and make decisions, emerge long after the changes in the brain that cause them have already taken hold.

For this reason, and because of the difficulties of diagnosing this form of dementia from symptoms, researchers are pushing for a model that "defines Alzheimer s by brain changes, not symptoms.