Geeky wellbeing favourites: August
On learning and healthy brains (and bodies)
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If there is one thing you should know about me, it’s that I absolutely love learning. I suppose this is how I’ve ended up with one BSc, two MSc, a PhD and now several yoga teacher trainings – plus several real-life and online course on various random things like weaving, behavioural design and poetry. I keep being tempted to enrol for another degree (health psychology, you temptress) and a yoga therapy course.
If it wasn’t for real life, I probably would have been a student of some description forever. I must have been a Victorian gentleman in a previous life.
Learning is amazing. It keeps our brains active, challenged and engaged. Which is really important as we get older. But it’s also fun – it breaks our habits, takes us a little out of our comfort zone, and maybe even gives us a little boost of confidence that keeps the mind–body connection happy.
So perhaps it’s time to try something new – even if that’s simply jazzing up your yoga practice and trying out something different.
Read
I think I’ve literally talked about this book so many times since reading it, with various different people and in very different contexts. In all honesty, it’s the inspiration for this month’s newsletter.
Beginners: The joy and transformative power of lifelong learning is the exploration of what happens when, as adults, we give ourselves opportunities to learn new things – and what that means for our brains. Although it does drag on in places (especially with the singing chapter), it is well worth reading and has inspired me to try lots of new things since.
Watch
This is a very famous TED talk on how challenging the brain by learning new skills changes our brain and promotes neuroplasticity. I specifically love this quote:
“Nothing is more effective than practice […] You have to do the work.”
Should try and remember that when getting frustrated with my inversions practice. And on that note…
Practice
In the spirit of learning, why not apply this to your yoga practice and commit to a programme that aims to build a new skill?
There are loads of online programmes out there, from physical yoga to meditation challenges and pranayama programmes; for inspiration, this time last year I did Journey to Handstand on Alo Moves and yes, I finally managed to do a handstand for the first time in my life (against the wall but still). And yes, that felt great!
Yoga science highlights
I go on a lot on the blog about the problem with yoga studies not having an active control (ie comparing yoga with something else like reading or listening to music). But I’m happy to report a few active-controlled studies this month! (although, disclaimer, all papers were behind a paywall so I couldn’t read them properly).
Yoga to keep brains healthy: This study compared the effects of five behavioural treatments (yoga, wellness education, peer support, brain training games, memory support system like calendar reminders and note-taking) on cognitive decline. They found that not doing yoga led to the highest cognitive decline, which suggests that yoga had the strongest beneficial effect out of all the interventions in maintaining brain function.
Being active supports healthy eating: The eternal question – is yoga special compared with other physical activity? At least when it comes to intuitive eating practices, yoga and physical activity were as good as each other, and both better than being inactive. However, yoga practitioners were better at interoception (recognising hunger signs) and showed better eating behaviours overall.
Back pain: In a systematic review and metanalysis on back pain, yoga was better at relieving back pain than a passive control (ie doing nothing at all). But, and important but, overall it did not yield significantly different effects to active controls. Do you have access to this paper? I’m dying to read it!
Yoga nidra for insomnia: Yoga nidra is pretty much always discussed in the context of sleep, but does it actually offer any benefits? Preliminary findings from an uncontrolled, small (33 participants) study suggest that yoga nidra may improve insomnia. Not a great study but you all know how much I love yoga nidra so I had to include it.
On the blog this month
Forever young with yoga – If inflammation determines our biological age, and if yoga helps to control unnecessary inflammation, could yoga also help to keep us young?
Burned out? Try yoga – Working from home over the past 18 months has brought some challenges, especially in maintaining work–life balance. Could yoga help tackle stress and burnout and keep us productive and full of brilliant ideas?
You may have missed
Time for some new yoga knowledge? Check out my favourite yoga books and pick your next read for August – Let’s talk yoga books.
Or maybe you fancy trying out a new skill? Dust off your sewing machine and sew your own yoga leggings. In part 1, I talk you through picking a sewing pattern, and in part 2 I talk fabrics and fabric suppliers.
Perhaps you’re a knitter who has randomly come across this newsletter and would love some tips to help those achey wrists – Knitters! Yoga sequence to unravel the wrists and shoulders.