Does Yoga Keep You Younger?

Being a long time yoga practitioner, what I've noticed most in myself, as well as in other yoga students I know, is that they seem to maintain a little better than the average person I know. My niece, for example, is only a few years younger than I am, (2 years actually) and does yoga regularly. If you tried to guess her age you'd likely be off by about 10 years (no, I'm not gonna tell you how old she is...if she ever read this she'd kill me...remember, she's in shape!). People who meet me for the first time usually think I'm 7 to 10 years younger than I am. I live a healthy lifestyle, as do many other yoga practitioners, it could be that many yogis are also vegetarians, and being vegetarians live healthier and longer lives than meat eaters (if aren't aware of it, yoga promulgates vegetarianism among practitioners). But, I eat meat, as does my niece. Could it be that having done yoga for over 20 years has made a difference in how we outwardly have aged?

I can think of several possible reasons other than regular Yoga practice for the differences she and I have experienced. First, people who do yoga often have other healthy habits. They tend to eat healthier, don't smoke and don't drink excessively. There is also some evidence that they have a tendency to be wealthier and better educated (at least among practitioners in the US). Former Director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) psychologist Norman B. Anderson, is quoted in an October, 2001 article in Monitor On Psychology, stating: "As you move up the socioeconomic status hierarchy, your health prospects continue to improve. One of the greatest advances of the last few years has been that socio-economic status is now viewed as a determinant of health rather than a mere correlate," says Anderson."1

Kkinda proves my point, huh? Studies that have been done of yoga practitioners may have missed these other, related, aspects of a yoga lifestyle. So, does yoga work or not? Does it keep you looking and feeling younger? I'll leave that up to you to decide. But, correlating these two statistics gives an entirely new and different spin to the claims of increased longevity that are made by many yoga researchers and teachers. Perhaps there are other forces at work in the physiology of the typical yoga adherent. The question that puzzles me the most is: how come I do yoga and I think I'm getting the benefits from regular practice, I still look younger than almost all of my friends (except those who are also yogis) ....and I'm still poor?

1 Rebecca A. Clay, Wealth Secures Health, Monitor On Psychology, Vol.32, No.9, 10/2001