Health Benefits of yoga: Yoga has long been beneficial for both the body and the psyche. Are there any further health advantages to yoga besides increasing flexibility, mastering yogi breathing methods, and building stronger muscles? The best part is that you don’t always need to practice yoga for years to see results; just a few weeks will do (spoiler alert: there are, and some are very shocking!). What you should know about yoga for health is provided here.
Health Benefits of yoga: It lessens persistent inflammation:
Acute inflammation is normal, such as the redness around a cut. However, persistent or chronic inflammation can be harmful and is the cause of many chronic diseases, including cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and many others. Yoga reduces important inflammatory markers (including C-reactive proteins and cytokines) and increases chemicals that reduce inflammation, according to numerous studies.
It’s also impressive how much of a difference practicing yoga for just a short while can make. One study included a portion of an adult population in a 10-day yoga intervention including stress-reduction lessons. Cortisol (the stress hormone) and numerous other substances that promote inflammation were found at lower levels in those who practiced yoga and stress reduction after days.
Stress decreases as a result:
Chronic stress can inhibit the immune system and reduce your body’s reaction to an illness-causing invader, in addition to harming our mental health (more on that below). Yoga practice, particularly the breathing exercises taught there, can help lower cortisol levels.
Yoga encourages and teaches deep, regular breathing, which encourages the release of hormones that calm us down. Over time, for frequent yoga practitioners, there is less activation in the area of the brain that produces norepinephrine in reaction to stress and panic (they also develop feelings of camaraderie and bonding, and friends are wonderful for stress reduction!).
In a 2018 study, workers were divided into two groups: one group underwent a 16-week yoga intervention, while the other underwent eight so-called “normal” workweeks before beginning an 8-week yoga intervention. After the trial, both groups reported feeling less stressed and anxious and overall better off.
Health Benefits of yoga: It raises mental health.
Yoga benefits your mood and outlook whether you have a diagnosable mental health illness. According to research, doing yoga boosts the creation of GABA, serotonin, and dopamine, all hormones and neurotransmitters with built-in antidepressant characteristics. In other words, mental health problems like schizophrenia, anxiety, sadness, and PTSD have been linked to reduced levels of GABA.
Additionally, clinically depressed people have benefited from regular yoga sessions. In one study, participants either received medication, engaged in yoga, or did both. Both yoga-practicing groups experienced an increase in cortisol levels, and surprisingly, the yoga-only group experienced a decrease in depression survey results. call us at the yoga bar Yaletown (778) 715-5554.
Heart health is improved.
health benefits of yoga
Yoga can assist in controlling chronic inflammation essential for heart health. However, yoga also has certain additional benefits for heart health. In a study of individuals with heart failure, those who practiced yoga for around three months (instead of only receiving standard medical care) saw improvements in several critical markers and lowered heart rate and blood pressure.
Interestingly, those who were deemed “pre-hypertensive” did not experience a lowering in blood pressure with yoga, according to another study that found people with high blood pressure might drop their pressure with yoga in addition to blood pressure medication.
Better sleep is encouraged.
A review study published in the 2017 issue of the journal Children found that yoga practice increases melatonin, which aids in our ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. Yoga is believed to enhance sleep quality in addition to quantity. The neurotransmitter GABA, which is crucial for mental health, is also involved in sleep regulation. Yoga poses that increase GABA synthesis are also beneficial for your nightly sleep.
Health Benefits of yoga: It works equally well as “traditional” exercise.
Yoga involves bodily postures, or asanas, similar to exercises used for physical conditioning. However, other aspects of yoga, such as controlled yogic breathing and meditation, which contribute to the previous benefits, are less “exercise-like.” However, when researchers reviewed the research on yoga versus exercise, they concluded that yoga is equally as good for mental and physical health as a fitness exercise.
In some cases, yoga is a better kind of physical activity.
As an illustration, doing yoga for eight weeks increased mood, reduced anxiety, and verbal aggression in two separate studies (one involving middle-aged and elderly persons and the other involving youngsters).
Yoga has various health advantages, from enhancing heart health to encouraging better sleep quality. So go out there and enroll in a class or get an app to practice at home.One final point: if you have a condition that requires medication or medical attention,
yoga is not a replacement for those things and never should be. However, yoga has the potential to be a preventive measure or a supplement to prescription medication and medical care. call us at the yoga bar Yaletown (778) 715-5554.
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