Is Yoga Good for You Over 60?

Yoga incorporates breathing techniques, meditation, and poses to encourage relaxation and reduce stress. Practicing yoga can provide many benefits for both physical and mental health.

Yoga over 60

Staying active is important for good health at any age. For older adults, yoga is a great way to stay active because it doesn’t require special equipment, many of the exercises are simple, and it can be done anywhere. Many people think they are not flexible enough to do yoga or that yoga presents too much of a risk of falling. But the opposite is true. By practicing yoga, you become more flexible and can actually improve your balance.

Practice yoga in your own home

Your plan makes it easy to practice yoga at home and still get the benefits that come with having an instructor guide you through the exercises. Tufts Health Plan Medicare Advantage HMO members can use their Preferred Extras to save on Ompractice. With Ompractice, you can access live, online yoga and meditation classes led by an instructor from the comfort and privacy of your own home. Learn more about Ompractice.

Yoga can improve more than flexibility

Yoga is different from stretching or other types of physical activity. Yoga uses a series of postures and breathing techniques to strengthen and calm the body at the same time. By connecting the mind and the body, yoga is a unique exercise that can improve more than just flexibility:

• Reduce stress—The combination of the physical activity of yoga exercises and mindful breathing and mediating can help increase your feeling of calm, and reduce stress and anxiety.
• Strengthen bones—The weight-bearing activity that is incorporated into yoga poses can help strengthen bones. Stronger bones can help to reduce your risk of developing osteoporosis or experiencing a fracture.
• Improve heart health—Physical activity is important to cardiovascular health. The controlled breathing that is part of yoga can decrease nervous system activity, which can help manage blood pressure levels.
• Improve balance—Improving your balance is beneficial to help prevent falls which, according to the CDC, are the leading cause of both fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults. Yoga helps improve your balance and stability through holding certain poses.

How your plan helps

Tufts Health Plan Medicare Advantage HMO and Access (PPO) plans make it easy to stay active with yoga:

Save when you join a yoga program

Tufts Health Plan Medicare Advantage HMO and Access (PPO) plan members can save when joining a gym or taking a fitness class (such as yoga, Pilates, tai chi, or aerobics), plus many more options!

Practice yoga in your own home

Tufts Health Plan Medicare Advantage HMO members can use their Preferred Extras to save on Ompractice. With Ompractice, you can access live, online yoga and meditation classes led by an instructor from the comfort and privacy of your own home. Learn more about Ompractice.

Discounts and services included in the Preferred Extras program are not plan benefits and are not subject to the Medicare appeals process.