Beneficial Effects of Yoga on Memory and Cognition Associated to Stress

Abstract

Stress generally occurs due to the organism’s non-specific response against some kind of demand imposed on them. The compensatory responses to these stresses are known as stress response. The stressful stimuli can advance the physiological and psychological effects on the body which includes executive functions of the brain. The prefrontal cortex shows an important connection between the circuits that are linked with emotions, memory and planning. Due to this activation of stressful condition or situation damage occurs in the prefrontal cortex because of the catecholaminergic nature of its innervating afferents in the other parts of the brain. Along with hippocampus, the amygdala and prefrontal cortex define the aspects of memory and visual processing within brain. The decrease in PNS and GABAergic activity that causes stress related disorders can be corrected by yoga practice resulting in amelioration of disease system in the brain such as reduction in anxiety and improvement in cognitive function. Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that are elevated by stress shows low heart rate variability (HRV) and GABAergic activity which can be improved in response to yoga based interventions. Yoga practices show increase in the proportion of gray matter and escalation in activation of amygdala and frontal cortex of the brain. It was concluded that breathing, meditation and posture based yoga increased overall brain function and activity.