A randomized, controlled six-month trial of yoga in 135 healthy seniors found significant improvements in physical capabilities and quality-of-life measures. The yoga group outperformed both an exercise group and a wait-list control group in one-legged standing, flexibility, sense of well-being, energy, and fatigue.
The study is notable for its size and duration. With 135 participants over six months, it provides more robust evidence than many yoga studies. The comparison to an exercise control group is important: yoga outperformed general exercise, not just inactivity, on quality-of-life measures.
For healthy seniors looking to maintain independence and vitality, six months of yoga produced measurable physical and psychological gains over general exercise.
Source: Yoga Research: Immunity & General Health on ashtanga.tech. Original research.
