Concentration Training with Elders - an Intervention with Yoga Relaxation

In this study the effect a training based on yoga principles had on elderly nursing home resident's concentration abilities was tested. The elderly residents were randomized and assigned to two parallel groups based on initial achievement of a concentration measure (reaction time: medians, variance, and homogeneity). The experimental group took part in the Yoga-training program while the control group participated in an unspecified activating program (similar to widespread programs commonly used in work with the elderly). Performances in concentration ability were investigated one month before the program started, then again during the program, directly at the end of the program and one month after it had finished. The results showed clearly that the participants of the Yoga-group reacted after the training more rapidly to visual signals than the control group. Additionally, the intraindividual variability of the reactions within the group decreased. The experimental group in contrast to the control group demonstrated the following: a reduction of reaction latency in the visual stimuli modality (but not in the acoustic); a continuous decrease in the reaction time during training and catamnesis, as compared to the control group, which showed an increase in the beginning and only a positive influence later on; a decrease in intraindividual variance of reaction time across time and training, and, likewise this only in the visual modality and not the acoustic. This study has been able to provide a solution - in connection with the statistical analysis of the data - for the contradiction existing between the results of the variance analysis and the regression analysis, by referring to and discussing Lord's paradox. In conclusion it can be observed that the changes in reaction time show Yoga to be an effective means of intervention in order to preserve intellectual resources in older adults