Health news: yoga for the brain, doodling and skipping
The Vitl Nutrition Team / 19 Jul 2017
Why you should skip your next work out, the surprising effect yoga has on the brain and why you should just do(oodle) it.
1. Yoga is good for your brain
Brazilian scientists have imaged elderly female yoga practitioners' brains and found they have greater cortical thickness in the left prefrontal cortex. This is the brain area associated with cognitive functions like attention and memory.
The results suggest that yoga could be a way to protect against cognitive decline in old age
2. Night owl or early bird? Both had their evolutionary advantages
While studying modern hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, scientists from the Duke University in South Carolina found that differences in sleep patterns has one very big benefit: it ensures that at least one person in a tribe is awake at all times. Over the 3-week period that researchers studied the tribe, there were only 18 minutes when all 33 tribe members were asleep simultaneously
3. Just doodle it
Contrary to the expectations of researchers at Drexel U., doodling increases activity in the prefrontal cortex (the area of the brain associated with complex cognition) more than drawing or colouring (doodling is described as "free-styling", whereas drawing is sketching representational images).
Doodlers also reported improved confidence in their creativity and problem-solving abilities after doodling. Other studies also found that doodling improves focus, memory, and productivity
4. Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day?
If you're trying to lose weight, then maybe it is. A new study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that whose largest meal of the day was breakfast experienced a large BMI decrease, in contrast with those who made lunch or dinner their largest meal.
Other "good eating practices", the researchers observe, include leaving 5 or 6 hours between breakfast and lunch, and abstaining from snacks throughout the day
5. Why you should skip your next workout
Grab a skipping rope: your work out is about to get a whole lot more 'old school'. According to Sport Science professor Michele Olson, skipping is more of a total-body workout than running or other forms of cardio. Those benefits extend to your bones.
“Anything that has some impact to it or that places a load on your bones will increase their density,” Olson says. “Jumping rope certainly has that aspect to it.”
The Vitl Nutrition Team
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