15 Benefits of Yoga that Improve Your Mental and Physical Health:
If you're a dedicated yogi, you've undoubtedly experienced yoga's positive effects firsthand. You may have noticed improved sleep, fewer colds, or a general sense of calm and relaxation. To a yoga novice, explanations like "It enhances the flow of prana" or "It brings energy up your spine" may sound nonsense.
Yoga has long been touted for its purported health benefits, including relief from chronic pain, inflammation, and illness; recently, though, Western science has begun to offer concrete evidence supporting these claims. When you do, you'll be more inspired than ever to practice, and you won't be at a loss for words the next time someone asks you why you bother getting on your mat.
1. Yoga Increases the flexibility of the Body:
There are many benefits of yoga, but one of the most immediate and noticeable is increased flexibility. When you first start yoga, you won't be able to even touch your toes, let alone complete a backbend. If you keep doing yoga, your body will gradually relax, and poses that were once impossible will become second nature. You may also find that your body's aches and pains begin to fade. Not by chance, I assure you. Misalignment of the thigh and shinbones caused by tight hips can put excess stress on the knee joint. If your hamstrings are tight, your lower back may round out. Having stiff muscles and connective tissue like fascia and ligaments can also lead to slouching.
2. Yoga Strengthens the muscles:
Muscles that are both robust and toned are more than just a cosmetic enhancement. Additionally, they shield us from arthritic pain and back discomfort, and they save the elderly from accidental falls. Yoga not only helps you get stronger, but it also makes you more flexible. Going to the gym and lifting weights alone could result in increased strength but decreased flexibility.
3. Yoga Improves Your Posture:
Your noggin is as round and heavy as a bowling ball. Less effort is required from the neck and back muscles when it is supported directly over the spine. But if you bring it forward by more than a few inches, you'll feel the strain on your muscles. Understandably, you'd be exhausted after holding up a bowling ball in a forward-leaning position for eight to twelve hours a day. You may be dealing with more than just exhaustion, after all. Muscle and joint pain, including in the back and neck, can result from slouching. The natural inward bends in your neck and lower back may be flattened as a compensatory mechanism as you droop. If this happens, you may experience back pain and perhaps degenerative arthritis.
4. Yoga Protects cartilage and joints against deterioration:
During yoga you move your joints through their full range of motion. By "squeezing and soaking" sections of cartilage that are generally unused, can help prevent degenerative arthritis or lessen the severity of the disability. Like a sponge, joint cartilage absorbs new nutrients only after the old ones have been squeezed out. Ignored patches of cartilage can deteriorate without proper care and maintenance, revealing the underlying bone in the same way as worn-out brake pads reveal the bare metal.
5. Yoga Protect and save your spine:
The shock absorbers between your vertebrae, and the spinal
discs, want motion so they don't herniate and pinch nerves. That is their only
source of sustenance. The flexibility of your discs can be maintained with a
regular asana practice that includes backbends, forward bends, and twists.
Yoga's long-term effects on flexibility are well-known, but their importance to
spinal health persists.
6. Yoga Improves Bone Health:
Exercises that require you to use your muscles and bones to support your weight are proven to prevent bone loss and strengthen your bones, making them less susceptible to fractures and brittleness. There are a lot of yoga poses that call for you to use your own body weight as resistance. Some of these poses, such as Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog) and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog) are especially useful for preventing osteoporotic fractures in the arms. Bone density was shown to rise in the vertebrae of yoga practitioners in an unpublished study from California State University, Los Angeles. A decrease in cortisol, the stress hormone, thanks to your yoga practice may aid in the preservation of bone calcium.
7. Yoga improves Blood circulation:
By increasing circulation, yoga is a great way to start the
day. To be more specific, the breathing and meditation techniques you pick up
in yoga can improve blood flow throughout your body, especially in your
extremities. Increased cellular oxygenation is another benefit of yoga. The
theory behind twisting positions is that they squeeze the veins in the body,
allowing oxygenated blood to flow more freely once the pose is relaxed. Headstand,
Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand), and Shoulderstand are all inverted positions
that help bring deoxygenated blood from the lower body back up to the heart for
reoxygenation. If you experience edema in your legs due to heart or renal
problems, this may assist. Similarly, the red blood cells and hemoglobin that
deliver oxygen to the body's organs are increased with yoga practice. Blood
thinning occurs due to its effect on platelets, making them less
sticky, and the reduction of clot-promoting substances in the blood. Given that
blood clots are a common cause of cardiovascular disease's leading killers,
this may reduce the number of fatal cardiovascular events.
8. Yoga Speeds up your pulse rate:
Reducing the risk of heart attack and improving mood are two benefits of regular aerobic exercise. Even though not all yoga is aerobic, practicing it strenuously or enrolling in classes like flow or Ashtanga can elevate your heart rate to the aerobic zone. However, even gentler yoga postures can help strengthen the heart and lungs. Yoga has been shown to improve aerobic fitness in a number of ways, including reducing resting heart rate, increasing endurance, and even raising the maximum oxygen intake during exercise. Participants taught only pranayama in one trial were able to perform the greater exercise with less oxygen.
9. Yoga Causes a decrease in blood pressure:
It has been suggested that yoga can help lower high blood
pressure. The benefits of Savasana (Corpse Pose) on persons with hypertension
were compared to those of merely laying on a couch in two studies published in
the British medical magazine The Lancet. Savasana was associated with a
26-point decline in systolic (top) blood pressure and a 15-point drop in
diastolic (bottom) blood pressure after 3 months, with the decrease being
greater for those with higher blood pressure, to begin with.
10. Yoga Adrenal glands regulation:
Practices like yoga have been shown to reduce stress hormone levels. Just think about this if you don't think that's a big deal. The stress hormone cortisol is normally released by the adrenal glands in reaction to a dire situation, boosting the immune system momentarily. Immunity can be compromised if cortisol levels remain elevated long after the crisis has passed. Although temporary increases in cortisol levels have been shown to improve long-term memory, persistently elevated levels have been shown to impair memory and may even cause lasting brain alterations. In addition, high levels of cortisol have been associated with significant depression, osteoporosis (because it removes calcium and other minerals from bones and prevents the formation of new bone), hypertension, and insulin resistance. High levels of the stress hormone cortisol have been linked to what scientists describe as "food-seeking behavior" in rats. The excess calories are stored as abdominal fat, increasing the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
11. Yoga Supports a healthy nervous system:
Extensive neural system manipulation is likely responsible for the exceptional physical abilities of some yogis. Researchers have observed yogis who were able to alter their pulse rates, create unique brainwave patterns, and even increase the temperature of their hands by 15 degrees Fahrenheit through a meditative process. If they are successful in using yoga for that purpose, maybe you could use it to help increase circulation to your womb if you are trying to conceive or to help you unwind and get some shut-eye if you are having difficulties doing so.
12. Yoga Decreases Muscle Tension in the Limbs:
Extensive neural system manipulation is likely responsible
for the exceptional physical abilities of some yogis. Researchers have observed
yogis who were able to alter their pulse rates, create unique brainwave
patterns, and even increase the temperature of their hands by 15 degrees
Fahrenheit through a meditative process. If they are successful in using yoga
for that purpose, maybe you could use it to help increase circulation to your
womb if you are trying to conceive or to help you unwind and get some shut-eye
if you are having difficulties doing so.
13. Yoga Prevent you from digestive problems:
Stress can worsen symptoms of IBS, IBS-related constipation,
and ulcers. Because of this, it follows that less stress equals less pain.
Because the movement of the body enables more fast transport of food and waste
items through the bowels, yoga, like any physical activity, can ease
constipation and, theoretically, reduce the risk of colon cancer. Yoga
practitioners have a hunch that twisting poses help move waste through the
body, but this is not a theory that has been tested in the lab.
14. Enhances the way your immune system works:
Even while there is some scientific evidence that suggests asana and pranayama boost immune function, meditation appears to have the most positive effects. It seems to have a favorable influence on immune system function, both boosting it when necessary (such as increasing antibody levels in response to a vaccine) and suppressing it when necessary (for instance, mitigating an inappropriately aggressive immune function in an autoimmune disease like psoriasis).
15. Increases your self-esteem:
Many of us struggle with persistent feelings of inferiority. If you respond badly to this—by, for example, abusing drugs, bingeing on food, working excessive hours, or engaging in promiscuous sleeping patterns—you may end up in worse physical, mental, and spiritual health as a result. By keeping a good outlook and regularly practicing yoga, you can gain glimpses of, and eventually, more sustained views of, the truth that you are a manifestation of the Divine and hence have value. You can tap into a new aspect of yourself if you practice frequently with the goal of self-reflection and improvement, rather than as a replacement for an aerobics class. Feelings of appreciation, compassion, and forgiveness will arise, along with a sense of belonging to something greater than yourself. Even if improved health isn't the objective of spirituality, numerous studies have shown that it's a common result.
Conclusion:
Everyone, regardless of age, can benefit from practicing yoga for their physical and emotional well-being. And if you're sick, recovering from surgery, or dealing with a long-term health problem, yoga can be a helpful part of your treatment plan that may even speed up your recovery.
Strength and flexibility can both be improved through yoga practice. Practically everyone can do it; it's not reserved solely for those who can meditate or touch their toes.
There are calming yoga practices, for example. In certain games, you get to move around more. Asanas, or postures, are the primary focus of many styles. Breathing exercises are also commonly taught.
