Yoga is good for you, but not for your blood vessels: advice for people 40+

A new study published in Advances in Integrative Medicine challenges the popular belief that yoga is as effective for vascular health as classical exercise.

A team of scientists led by Dr Leena David from the University of Sharjah analysed multiple studies - including randomised and crossover trials - to compare the effects of yoga and other types of activity on vascular function in sedentary people.

Vascular function is the ability of blood vessels to efficiently deliver blood to tissues. With a sedentary lifestyle, this ability is impaired, increasing the risk of hypertension, vessel blockage and blood clots.

Yoga vs. exercise

Dr David compared blood vessels to flexible garden hoses: "If they lose flexibility, the risk of strokes and heart attacks increases. Our analysis shows that traditional exercise reliably maintains this flexibility, but yoga does not always."

According to the scientists, the difference in effectiveness is particularly noticeable in young people. While yoga may benefit the elderly, it is more likely to fail to produce significant improvements in vascular health in young people.

Among the traditional forms of exercise that showed the best results: pilates, tai chi and high-intensity interval training.

"Every movement helps blood vessels forget the harms of a sedentary lifestyle. Sitting is the new smoking: silent, insidious and deadly," adds Dr David.

While yoga remains an accessible and culturally relevant method of wellness, the study authors feel it's important to clarify: if you want to protect your heart and blood vessels, incorporate more vigorous exercise into your regime.

The authors emphasise that physical activity should not only be regular, but varied.

"Yoga is a great choice for those who can't or don't want to exercise vigorously. But for stable vascular effects, you need a combination: movement and variety," they conclude.

According to the researchers, future public health campaigns should emphasise: movement is medicine. And depending on age, health status and capacity, an effective and safe mix of activity can be found.