Yoga is a body and mind practice that has been in existence for centuries. Over time, people have realized several benefits correlated to yoga. There is more to yoga than burning calories and bolstering muscles. It’s a physical, mental, and spiritual workout. This workout is beneficial to people of all ages. And, if you’re battling illness, recuperating from surgery, or living with an underlying condition, yoga can become an essential part of treatment and probably speed up healing.
Regardless of where you’re and whatever you’re undertaking, it’s possible to set aside at least 15 minutes every day to practice yoga. Below are the health benefits of yoga and why it’s worth your time.
Improvement of Posture
Spending the whole day working while seated on a desk not only can hurt your spine but also make you feel exhausted even before the end of the day. Practicing certain yoga types can help you improve your posture and alleviate neck and lower back pain.
Enhancing Flexibility
Moving and stretching in different ways will add a sense of flexibility, bringing a considerable range of motion to more tight parts. With persistent yoga practice, you can anticipate experiencing an increase of flexibility in various parts of the body, such as the shoulders, hips, hamstrings, and back.
It’s no secret that flexibility decreases with age, and if you spend most of your time sitting, you’re more likely to suffer pain and immobility. However, with continued yoga practice, this process is reversible.
Better Stress Management
Nowadays, several workplaces have begun to offer break-time yoga sessions because it’s been demonstrated that yoga is an incredible stress alleviator. Any yoga workout, even the shortest one, should comprise three elements, namely: breathing, poses, and mediation.
Studies have confirmed that those who routinely exercise all the above elements are better positioned to control their heart-rate variability (HRV). This typically translates to a lower heart rate, empowering the body to act on stress more flexibly.
Relieves Anxiety
Many people suffering from anxiety have resorted to yoga practice to alleviate the feelings of anxiety. Sensationally enough, science-based facts are demonstrating that yoga can help lessen the effects of anxiety, much like meditation.
In one study, 50 women diagnosed with anxiety took part in yoga classes twice per week for two successive months. At the conclusion of the study, those who took part in yoga sessions had greatly reduced anxiety levels than those who didn’t participate.
Although there are no solid facts explaining yoga’s capability to make anxiety symptoms less severe, based on the study findings, it’s evident routine yoga practice relieves anxiety.
Promotes Mental Calmness
Some yoga practices such as asana are vehemently physical. Focusing so attentively on every move your body is undertaking implies bringing a sense of calmness to your mind. On top of that, yoga brings you mediation techniques about concentrating on your breath and relieving your mind from disturbing thoughts.
Increases Self Confidence
Regularly practicing yoga enhances your mental-physical connection, making you understand your body better. When practicing yoga, you gain insight into making slight, clever movements to boost your alignment, positioning you better to establish a connection with your physical being. With time, this causes you to feel more comfortable with your body, inflating your self-esteem.
Teaches Better Breathing
Many people take shallow breaths and express little interest in learning how they breathe. Yoga breathing workouts, popularly known as pranayama, help us concentrate more on breathing and educate us on taking deep breaths, which are of great benefit to the entire body.
Various types of breath can aid in unblocking the nasal passages (beneficial for allergic persons) and even bring a sense of calm to the overworked nervous system, which has both body and mind benefits on and off the mat. For example, this research performed on middle-aged adults proves that yoga improves respiratory functions.
Improves Sleep Quality
Poor sleep quality is attributed to various disorders such as depression, high blood pressure, obesity, among others.
Studies have revealed that integrating yoga into your daily routine could help improve sleep quality. A study encompassing 50 elderly patients was conducted whether some members were required to practice yoga while the rest take an herbal medication. According to study findings, the faction that practiced yoga fell-asleep swiftly slept for more hours, and felt more relaxed in the morning than the other faction.
This is an indication that yoga, to some extent, is a remedy to insomnia.
Conclusion
From the above, it is apparent that yoga offers lots of physical and mental benefits. Integrating it into your regimen can help improve your health, boost strength and flexibility and alleviate anxiety and depression symptoms. Keep in mind that as with any exercise, it is important to learn, start slowly, and not be too hard on yourself.
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