All participants completed a 6-min walk test to assess fitness, psychosocial and demographic questionnaires; and underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) to assess gray matter volume and brain activation. Height and weight were assessed as well.

To go a bit further, all participants completed an exercise questionnaire
that assessed typical weekly engagement in physical activity. Experienced yoga practitioners were asked to complete a separate form to gather their yoga history which included—years of yoga training, type of yoga practice, dose of weekly yoga practice and time spent in performing postures, breathing and meditative exercises.

Pepperdine University

In a study assessing the neurological impacts of yoga, the participant cohort consisted of $$ 13 $$ experienced yoga practitioners (i.e., having more than $$ 3 $$ years of regular yoga practice, $$ > 3 $$ days a week). Control participants reported no current or past experience with yoga or any other type of mind-body practice.

Participant Demographics in the Yoga Brain Structure Study

Gothe, N. P., Hayes, J. M., Temali, C., & Damoiseaux, J. S. (2018). Differences in brain structure and function among yoga practitioners and controls. Frontiers in integrative neuroscience, 12, 26.

Reference for Differences in Brain Structure and Function Among Yoga Practitioners and Controls

Measures and procedures

During the functional MRI scan, participants completed a Sternberg working memory task so that the encoding, maintenance and retrieval subcomponent processes of working memory could be investigated.

For each of the 40 trials, participants were instructed to remember a set of four upper-case letters that were presented for 2 seconds. After this initial presentation, a fixation cross was displayed for 2 seconds, followed by the presentation of a single lower-case probe letter for another 2 seconds. Participants were asked to indicate as quickly as possible whether the probe letter was present in the original set of upper-case letters. The participants provided yes/no responses.

This was all to measure test accuracy - the number of correct yes/no responses out of 40 trials and by calculating the average reaction time (seconds) in making a response.

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