Yoga for Neurodegenerative Disorders: Therapeutic Effects, Mechanisms, and Applications in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) represent a growing global health concern with no definitive cure. Increasing evidence suggests that mind-body practices like yoga may offer neuroprotective benefits by modulating stress, neuroinflammation, and neuroplasticity. This narrative review explores the clinical outcomes, mechanistic insights, and biomarker evidence supporting yoga as a therapeutic intervention for AD and PD. Different studies indicate that regular yoga improves motor and cognitive functions, mood, and quality of life in affected individuals. At the molecular level, yoga enhances neurotrophic factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), reduces pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., IL-6, TNF-α), mitigates oxidative stress, and may preserve gray matter volume in key brain regions. These findings support the hypothesis that yoga induces favorable neuroplastic adaptations that may slow neurodegeneration. Despite encouraging early results, heterogeneity in study design, intervention duration, and sample size issues have limited the incorporation of neuroimaging and biomarker endpoints, which means further studies are warranted to clarify yoga’s therapeutic potential and mechanism in ND management.