Yoga for MCI and dementia: memory, planning and daily life

Dementia research includes the person and the caregiver

Research also includes people already diagnosed with dementia. An intervention study recruited 30 people aged 60 and over with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease from care facilities. A specialist had diagnosed the participants, who included 18 men and 12 women. They completed a 12-week yoga program combining poses, breathing and meditation for 1 hour a day, 6 days a week.[12] These conditions involved substantially more support and practice than simply attending a community class.

The total score on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, rose from 18.23 before the program to 21.10 afterward. The reported 95% confidence interval was 2.17–3.89. Significant improvements were reported in language, attention and delayed recall.[12] Delayed recall assesses remembering material after a period of time. The results therefore concerned several aspects of cognition, including working with language and directing attention as well as recalling information.

The mean score on the depressive-symptom scale fell from 8.36 to 5.13, with a 95% confidence interval for the change of −3.98 to −2.31. Caregiver burden also decreased significantly; the reported 95% confidence interval for its change was −2.54 to −1.23.[12] That caregiver figure describes a measured change in burden. It is not a count of minutes saved in providing care, and translating it into such a claim would misrepresent the outcome.

Including caregiver burden makes the study relevant to the conditions of continuing an activity. The person may need someone to accompany them or help oversee practice. Their preferences matter, and so does the experience of whoever provides that support. Looking at both allows a discussion about how the activity fits into daily life, rather than treating the participant’s cognitive score as the only result worth considering.

The study was not a randomized controlled trial. It principally examined changes before and after the intervention. Healthy controls were included, but the findings were not presented as a comparison in which people with the same diagnosis were randomly assigned to different activities.[12] The design is important to the interpretation: the changes are encouraging observations after a supported program, while the study does not establish which part of participation caused them.

The schedule is therefore a description of what was studied, rather than an instruction for a family to reproduce 1 hour of practice on 6 days each week. It can inform a discussion with medical and care professionals about supported movement. A review of yoga in dementia care characterized the evidence for cognition, memory, quality of life and activities of daily living as limited to moderate.[4] Activities of daily living are the actions and activities involved in everyday life.

A meaningful activity also has a place within the person’s day. What they enjoyed, whether the explanation was understandable and how much help was needed are relevant questions when reviewing participation. They complement the research measures without replacing them. The dementia findings support considering an activity the person can join within their care arrangements, while keeping the support-intensive setting of the study in view.[12]

Brain changes offer clues, while prevention remains uncertain

Some studies look for explanations of how cognitive changes might occur. In a small randomized MCI trial, participants took yoga or memory enhancement training for 12 weeks. The study was completed by 14 people in the yoga group and 11 in the training group. Researchers examined changes in memory tests alongside resting-state brain connectivity, an imaging measure of how activity in different brain regions varies together.[13]

Improved verbal memory was associated with increased connectivity between several brain regions. The yoga group also showed significant improvements in depression and visuospatial memory.[13] These results connect cognitive testing with mood and patterns of brain activity. An association identifies a relationship worth investigating; it does not by itself establish that changing a particular connection caused memory to improve.

The analysis focused on the default mode network, a group of brain regions, as well as language-processing and superior parietal networks. Improved verbal memory was associated with increased connectivity between the language-processing network and the left inferior frontal gyrus. Visuospatial-memory improvement had an inverse association with connectivity between the superior parietal network and the medial parietal cortex.[13] The findings make the interpretation more specific than a general claim that more connectivity is always better.

Each association concerns a particular memory measure and combination of regions. That level of detail is useful because brain imaging can otherwise sound like a simple picture of strengthening the whole brain. Here, some relationships pointed toward increased connectivity and another toward an inverse association. The research offers possible mechanisms to examine in further studies, with the memory results and the imaging findings read together.[13]

Another imaging study involved women who experienced subjective cognitive decline and had cardiovascular risk factors. It compared 11 women who completed 12 weeks of yoga with 11 who undertook memory enhancement training. Some brain regions showed a reduction in gray-matter volume in the memory-training group. Gray matter is a type of brain tissue. An increase in right hippocampal volume after yoga, however, was no longer statistically significant after correction.[14]

A further randomized trial enrolled 79 women with subjective cognitive decline and cerebrovascular risk factors. At 24 weeks, the yoga group showed a large effect-size improvement in subjective cognitive impairment compared with memory training. The researchers also examined blood markers and gene activity.[15] This outcome describes the women’s own experience of cognitive difficulty, rather than an MCI trial’s objective memory outcome or a measurement of dementia onset.

Blood was assessed at the beginning, at 12 weeks and at 24 weeks. The researchers measured cytokines involved in immune regulation and examined patterns of gene expression, meaning how genes were active. In the yoga group, aging-associated gene-expression signatures changed, including pathways involving interferon gamma. Eotaxin-1, studied as an aging marker, increased over time in the memory-training group but not the yoga group.[15] These results provide biological clues alongside the participants’ subjective assessments.

Follow-up completion was 65% in the yoga group and 95% in the memory-training group at 24 weeks.[15] This unfavorable difference matters when considering results among those who continued. The people who stopped taking part are also part of the study’s interpretation. Promising cognitive and biological findings should be read with that difference in retention, rather than as though everyone assigned to the program completed it.

Across the broader yoga review, many of the 10 studies involving 421 people with MCI or dementia reported improved cognition, mood and balance. However, every included study had a high risk of bias.[1] That limits confidence in the overall picture. The Kundalini review likewise asked for larger, better-designed trials to confirm its promising results.[8] Expanding the evidence requires stronger studies as well as more reports.

A separate review examined 9 studies of mind-body interventions for MCI, including activities beyond yoga. It reported benefits for cognition and everyday functioning, as well as lower dementia risk at 1 year. Its limitations included small samples, different outcome measures, a lack of active comparison groups and an absence of long-term follow-up.[16] This was a finding across mind-body activities, not established evidence that yoga alone prevents progression to dementia. Prevention cannot be promised from the evidence described here.

Safety reporting also needs to remain concrete. Only 4 studies in the yoga review assessed safety, and 1 instance of dizziness was reported.[1] The feasibility trial involving 37 people with MCI reported no adverse events judged related to yoga.[11] Before starting, agree with family members and the people supporting the activity that pain or dizziness means stopping and seeking advice. A reassuring report is useful information, but it is not a reason to push through a change in how you feel.

Common misconceptions

A dementia diagnosis does not make participation in movement meaningless. The supported program involving people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease reported improvements in cognitive and depressive-symptom scores after 12 weeks, together with reduced caregiver burden.[12] It included breathing and meditation as well as poses. Those findings give a reason to discuss an activity the person can take part in within medical and care support, while preserving the study’s before-and-after design.

Reduced caregiver burden should not automatically be attributed to better memory. The study measured cognition, depressive symptoms and caregiver burden before and after the intervention; it did not establish which change caused another.[12] The burden result matters in its own right. Asking about the caregiver’s experience can broaden the assessment of participation beyond the participant’s test performance, without inventing a chain of cause and effect.

Low home practice does not settle whether yoga suits someone. The feasibility trial found high satisfaction and reasonable class attendance despite little practice at home.[11] Before increasing reminders, discuss what made attendance workable: a fixed schedule, understandable instructions, or the experience of being with other people. These are practical questions about the person’s experience. They help keep a difficulty with continuing practice separate from a judgment about the person’s character.

What you can do today

• If you have a chronic condition or take medication, consult your treating doctor before starting. Stop if pain or dizziness occurs. When cognition is a concern, also confirm how instructions will be explained and whether someone needs to oversee participation.
• Once participation has been confirmed as appropriate, practice comfortable poses and breathing with an instructor. Weekly 60-minute classes for 12 weeks were used in the study of women with subjective cognitive decline. People with MCI or dementia should arrange suitable participation conditions with their supporters first.[15]
• If home practice is manageable, consider the material learned in class with a guided recording for 12 minutes once a day. That was the homework schedule used alongside classes in the same study. Use content the responsible professional has confirmed is suitable, and avoid adding difficult poses on your own.[15]
• Together, review what made attending possible, what the person enjoyed and how much burden the support involved; bring those observations to a medical or care discussion. Class satisfaction remained high despite low home practice in one trial, and caregiver burden was assessed in another.[11][12]

A fixed weekly time for person and family at On the Shore Tachikawa

For someone considering yoga alongside MCI or dementia support, a fixed weekly time to keep moving can be planned around the person’s wishes and family commitments.

On the Shore Tachikawa (オンザショア立川店) is a lava-stone hot yoga studio, a 1-minute walk from the North Exit of JR Tachikawa Station, at 3F Etoile Bldg, 2-14-10 Akebonocho, Tachikawa, Tokyo. It opens every day from 8:00 to 23:30.

Older guests should start with room-temperature yoga. Anyone sensitive to heat or living with a chronic condition should check with their doctor first; guests told by a doctor not to exercise cannot join. Pregnant guests cannot participate in lava-stone hot yoga; room-temperature maternity yoga is available.

Many of our yoga instructors speak English, and the studio’s owner often helps guests from the US bases in English herself. Room-temperature yoga is among the studio’s 25+ kinds of yoga lessons. Other activities include Pilates, women-only kickboxercise, boxercise, HIIT and personal training.

A trial yoga lesson costs ¥1,980 including tax and includes a 60-minute lesson, 2 bath towels, 1 face towel and mat rental. Read the studio information together, then check the prices and trial booking page when planning attendance.

References

1. A systematic review of the health effects of yoga for people with mild cognitive impairment and dementia — D. Karamacoska et al., 2023, BMC Geriatrics. DOI: 10.1186/s12877-023-03732-5
2. Yoga for Dementia Care: A Review — Amitava Acharyya, 2024, Preventive Medicine: Research & Reviews. DOI: 10.4103/pmrr.pmrr_47_24
3. A randomized controlled trial of Kundalini yoga in mild cognitive impairment — H. Eyre et al., 2017, International psychogeriatrics. DOI: 10.1017/s1041610216002155
4. The Impact of Kundalini Yoga on Cognitive Function and Memory: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials — S. Giridharan et al., 2024, Cureus. DOI: 10.7759/cureus.63161
5. A Meta-Analysis of Studies of the Effect of Mind Body Exercise on Various Domains of Cognitive Function in Older People With or Without Mild Cognitive Impairment — Ji-Woo Suk et al., 2025, Journal of Evidence-based Integrative Medicine. DOI: 10.1177/2515690×251363709
6. Feasibility of a Yoga Intervention for Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial — G. Tremont et al., 2022, Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine. DOI: 10.1089/jicm.2021.0204
7. Yoga an integrated mind body intervention for improvement in quality of life in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers — Meenakshi Kaushik et al., 2025, Frontiers in Aging. DOI: 10.3389/fragi.2025.1449485
8. Changes in Neural Connectivity and Memory Following a Yoga Intervention for Older Adults: A Pilot Study — H. Eyre et al., 2016, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. DOI: 10.3233/jad-150653
9. Yoga Prevents Gray Matter Atrophy in Women at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial — Beatrix Krause-Sorio et al., 2022, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. DOI: 10.3233/jad-215563
10. Cognitive and immunological effects of yoga compared to memory training in older women at risk for alzheimer’s disease — Adrienne Grzenda et al., 2024, Translational Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1038/s41398-024-02807-0
11. Impact of mind-body interventions in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a systematic review — M. Farhang et al., 2019, International Psychogeriatrics. DOI: 10.1017/s1041610218002302

Cover photo: Two people stand side by side holding hands, photographed from behind. (Photo: https://pixabay.com/users/pasja1000-6355831/ / CC0 / Wikimedia Commons)

Information as of October 2026. For your own health, consult a doctor.

More from Senior Yoga Science (English)

• Yoga for older adults: better balance, but what about falls?
• Yoga for fear of falling: rebuilding confidence in later life
• Yoga for older adults: flexibility beyond the forward bend
• Yoga for older adults: leg strength and getting out of a chair
• Yoga for seniors and gait speed: what walking studies show
• Yoga for knee osteoarthritis: pain, stiffness and daily movement
• Yoga for chronic low back pain: moving better in later life
• Yoga for bone density after 60: what the research tells us
• Yoga for blood pressure in older adults: breathing and rest
• Yoga for older adults: what heart and blood vessel tests show
• Yoga and blood sugar after 60: what type 2 diabetes studies show
• Yoga for seniors and sleep: looking beyond hours in bed
• Yoga for older adults with depression: scores over 6 months
• Yoga for seniors with anxiety: chair trials and stress signals
• Yoga for older adults: memory, attention and mental flexibility
• Yoga for older adults and loneliness: finding social connection
• Yoga and quality of life after 60: modest gains, with limits
• Yoga breathing for seniors: what lung function studies show
• Yoga for a rounded upper back after 60: what changed in trials
• Chair yoga for seniors: pain, walking and staying with it
• Yoga for frailty in older adults: walking, strength and limits
• Yoga for urinary incontinence: evidence for older women
• Yoga for older adults: how often to practice and keep going
• Yoga for Parkinson’s disease: movement and mood in later life
• Yoga for older cancer survivors: fatigue, sleep and daily life
• Yoga for neck and shoulder pain: what older adults should know
• Yoga safety for older adults: injuries, pain and safer practice
• Yoga for older adults compared with tai chi and walking
• Hot yoga for older adults: choosing a room that suits you

All Senior Yoga Science articles (English)