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An Arizona State University study using data from more than 55,000 U.S. adults found yoga and Pilates were associated with lower risk of death over roughly a decade. The findings do not establish that either practice causes people to live longer, and researchers say other differences between practitioners and non-practitioners may explain some of the association.
Yoga and Pilates were associated with lower risk of death in an analysis of more than 55,000 U.S. adults, according to research by Arizona State University investigators. The study followed mortality records for about a decade and found associations, not proof that either practice causes people to live longer.
Researchers examined 21 alternative health practices and their relationship with mortality using nationally representative data on U.S. adults linked to death records. Of the practices included, the report said only yoga and Pilates showed a statistically significant association with lower risk of death. The supplied report does not identify the other practices or provide details about how often participants practiced yoga or Pilates.
Yoga practice was associated with a 27% lower risk of death, while Pilates was associated with a 36% lower risk, compared with people who did not report those practices, as described in the source report. These percentages refer to the study’s reported associations; they should not be read as a guaranteed reduction in an individual’s chance of dying or as evidence that the activities caused the difference.
Study co-author Connor Sheehan, an associate professor at ASU, said researchers accounted for factors including income, education, exercise, smoking, body mass index and self-rated health. He also cautioned that unmeasured differences—including healthcare access, genetics and economic circumstances—could affect the results. The report does not provide the study’s full methods, confidence intervals or absolute death rates.
Movement Practices Show a Signal
The findings offer a useful distinction for consumers facing a crowded market of wellness products and practices: in this analysis, the strongest reported associations were for two movement-based activities, rather than for the broader set of alternative approaches examined. That may help frame questions about where stronger long-term evidence exists, but it does not establish that yoga or Pilates is a longevity treatment.
Sheehan said yoga and Pilates combine physical activity with strength and balance work, and may also include breath work, stress management and social contact when practiced in classes. Those are possible explanations for the association, not mechanisms proven by this mortality analysis. Readers should not treat the results as a reason to replace medical care or assume that taking up either practice will change their lifespan.
The finding is also relevant to a large and evolving wellness economy. The source report cited a forecast that the Pilates and yoga market could reach $521 billion by 2035; it did not provide the forecast’s methodology. Commercial growth can make careful evidence more important, since an observational association may otherwise be presented as a promise of longer life.
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A Wider Study of Wellness Practices
The study was prompted by the growing use of complementary and alternative health practices and limited evidence about their relationship to long-term outcomes, according to the report. Sheehan said more than 40% of U.S. adults use at least one such practice, citing examples including acupuncture, chiropractic care and specialized diets. The source material does not specify the survey or time period behind that figure.
The researchers used data from a nationally representative sample of more than 55,000 adults and linked it to mortality records over roughly ten years. That approach allows researchers to examine whether reported behaviors coincide with later outcomes across a large population. It cannot, on its own, determine why outcomes differ or rule out other explanations.
Sheehan said the team adjusted for several measured characteristics but noted that people who choose yoga or Pilates may differ in ways the analysis did not capture. For example, people with more serious illness might be less able to take part. If so, the apparent protective association could partly reflect who was well enough to practice, rather than an effect of the activity itself.
“Of all the alternative health practices out there, the two with the strongest longevity signal are ones rooted in physical movement, not the more exotic-sounding therapies.”
— Connor Sheehan, ASU associate professor and study co-author
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Association Does Not Prove Cause
The study, as described in the supplied report, is observational. It cannot establish that yoga or Pilates directly lowered participants’ risk of death. Differences in health, income, healthcare access, genetics or other behaviors may have contributed to the results, even with statistical adjustments for several factors.
It is also unclear from the report how participants’ practice was measured, whether frequency or duration mattered, and how the comparison groups were defined in the underlying analysis. The source material does not give absolute mortality rates, confidence intervals or enough methodological detail to assess the size and precision of the estimates independently. The reported 27% and 36% figures are relative risk associations, not estimates of added years of life.
Further research would be needed to test whether the associations hold in other populations and to clarify possible explanations. The findings do not show that other practices have no health value; they indicate only that the report found no comparable significant association with mortality for the other practices examined.
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More Research on Wellness Habits
The next step is closer examination of the study’s full methods and results, including how researchers measured participation and accounted for differences among adults. Follow-up studies in other groups could assess whether the associations persist and whether practice frequency, class participation or other factors make a difference.
Sheehan called for research into rapidly changing wellness behaviors, including practices and products that have become more popular in recent years. Until stronger evidence is available, consumers can regard the yoga and Pilates findings as an association worth investigating, not a promise of longer life. The source material does not identify a planned follow-up study or its expected publication date.
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Key Questions
What did the study find about yoga and mortality?
Yoga was associated with a 27% lower risk of death in the analysis, according to the source report. The finding is observational and does not show that yoga caused the difference.
What did it find about Pilates?
Pilates was associated with a 36% lower risk of death, as reported by the researchers. This is a relative association, not a guaranteed reduction in an individual’s risk or proof of extra years of life.
How many people were included?
The researchers drew on nationally representative data from more than 55,000 U.S. adults, linked to mortality records over about a decade.
Does the research prove yoga or Pilates helps people live longer?
No. The study found an association but cannot establish cause and effect. Other factors, including differences in health or healthcare access, may have influenced the results.
Were other alternative practices linked to lower mortality?
The report says yoga and Pilates were the only two of 21 practices examined associated with significantly lower risk of death. That does not prove the other practices have no health effects; it describes the mortality findings in this analysis.
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