No significant difference was found between yoga and exercise .
Conclusions There is promising evidence of yoga on improving cardio-metabolic health .
Background Yoga , a popular mind-body practice , may produce changes in cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) and metabolic syndrome risk factors .
Physical fitness of older adults in senior activity centres after 24-week silver yoga exercises.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Promoting physical fitness of young-older adults is essential in reducing healthcare expenditures which would occur in the future for those with chronic health problems . The silver yoga exercise programme was developed to accommo date the reduced body flexibility experienced by many older adults and was critically review ed by experts and pilot-tested with community-dwelling older adults . This study aim ed to test older adults ' physical fitness after a 24-week silver yoga exercise programme and to examine whether the programme could be further shortened to fit senior activity centres ' programme design s. DESIGN A quasi-experimental , pre-post tests design was used : baseline , at 12-week and at 24-week periods . METHODS Convenience sample s of 204 subjects were recruited from eight senior activity centres and 176 subjects completed the study . Subjects were r and omly assigned into three groups based on the centres : ( 1 ) Experiment I : complete silver yoga with stretching and meditation , ( 2 ) Experiment II : shortened silver yoga without the guided-imagery meditation and ( 3 ) Wait-list control . The interventions were conducted three times per week for 24 weeks . Physical fitness indicators included body compositions , cardiovascular-respiratory functions , physical functions and the range of motion . RESULTS At the end of the 24-week period , the physical fitness of subjects in Experiments I and II had significantly improved whether or not guided-imagery meditation was used and all had better physical fitness than subjects in the control group ( all p < 0.05 ) . CONCLUSIONS The physical fitness of older adults in both the 70-minute complete silver yoga group and the 55-minute shortened silver yoga group had significantly improved after the interventions . It was recommended that the silver yoga programme be shortened by eliminating the guided-imagery meditation . RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE The shortened silver yoga exercise programme is recommended to be incorporated as an activity programme in community- setting s to promote the physical fitness of older adults
No significant difference was found between yoga and exercise .
Conclusions There is promising evidence of yoga on improving cardio-metabolic health .
Background Yoga , a popular mind-body practice , may produce changes in cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) and metabolic syndrome risk factors .