MIAMI – The number of Americans over 50 practicing yoga has tripled over the last four years to reach 14 million people.
While some are just discovering the benefits for the first time in their lives, 95-year-old June Blank has been practitioner for 40 years and now teaches her fellow residents at The Palace Suites in Miami.
“When I started teaching them the different breathing techniques they were like birds set free, and they were all just wonderful considering their ages and everything. When we’re talking about doing yoga, young people, we’re giving them back their youth and so it’s just a delight to watch,” Blank said.
And there’s some encouraging news about a potential treatment for COVID ‘long hauler syndrome’.
Data released on Monday from a pilot study showed promise in treating these patients with a drug called Leronlimab
“We can tell that clinically, 18 out of the 22 primary symptomatic end points either improved or did not get worse in comparing patients who were on treatment to placebo. What needs to happen next is we need to correlate that with the biomarkers, which will be done,” said Neurologist Dr. Norman Gaylis.
He said the next step will be to apply to the FDA for a larger study to focus on getting statistical validation of the results.