Michael Mosley backs exercise that can 'slow down' aging process and boost health

Health expert Michael Mosley believes he may have discovered a crucial tool in the quest to stay healthy as we age.

Yoga is ancient practice has been around for thousands of years and is now being recognised for its potential to "delay or slow down the rate of cellular ageing". In his BBC podcast Just One Thing, Dr Mosley delves into the history and health benefits of the low impact exercise.

There are many different types of yoga, but five well-known variants stand out - Vinyasa, Astanga, Hatha, Iyengar, and Hot Yoga. Dr Mosley focused on Hatha yoga and found some surprising results, reports Gloucestershire Live.

The practice, which has been around for at least 5000 years, only gained global popularity in the 19th century when photographs allowed the various movements and poses to be easily shared worldwide.

In the episode, Mosley said: "Yoga is an ancient practice for the body and mind that can boost strength and flexibility. There are many different types of yoga practices, but generally it involves physical poses, breath control and meditation.

"Doing it regularly has shown to lower chronic inflammation, which could help reduce depression and anxiety, and some exciting new research suggests it could even benefit you at a cellular level.

"There is some really interesting research that suggests that doing regular yoga can lower chronic inflammation which is linked to heart disease and cancer and also doing yoga can boost your mood, which might help you with motivation and get you going in other areas of activity. Research shows that this mind-body intervention really does come with a wide range of health benefits."

A German study conducted in 2018 divided participants into three groups who, for a span of 10 weeks, either practised yoga, engaged in sports, or did nothing. Brain scans taken at the end of the study revealed a significant increase in the grey matter density of the hippocampus - the part of the brain associated with learning and memory.

In a pilot study from 2017, a group of individuals with mild or moderate depression were split into two groups. One group practised yoga, while the other studied the history of yoga for 90 minutes twice a week over an eight-week period.

Following this period, 60 per cent of the yoga group were no longer clinically depressed, compared to only a 10 per cent improvement in the history group.

A recent review has discovered that yoga can help reduce the levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, and regulate our sympathetic nervous system, which controls how we respond to stress.

The NHS even endorses yoga, stating: "Yoga focuses on strength, flexibility and breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing. There's some evidence that regular yoga practice helps people with high blood pressure, heart disease, aches and pains (including lower back pain), depression and stress."

Dr Mosley added: "These effects, along with lower levels of inflammatory markers, are thought to be the main reasons behind yoga's impact on anxiety and depression.

"Yoga might also boost our mitochondrial function. Mitochondria are tiny power units that live inside our cells and provide us with energy. The better they are working, the better you function."

There is also intriguing research suggesting that it can help slow down the ageing process. Dr Mosley spoke to professor Rima Dada, from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.

She explained: "Mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cells so they produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which is energy.

"As mitochondria tends to accumulate mutations and variations they produce less ATP and that is actually the cause of functional decline of tissue and that is how we start to age. Through our studies, we have found yoga can improve the mitochondrial integrity as well as the nuclear DNA integrity.

"If the mitochondrial integrity improves, it produces more ATP, more energy and thereby you can slow down the functional decline of the tissues. If we can improve the mitochondrial integrity, decrease the oxidative stress and inflammation, enhance the total anti-oxidant capacity by yoga, we can actually delay or slow down the rate of cellular ageing, thereby reducing our biological age."

Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.