10 Health Benefits of Yoga
Yoga makes you feel both mentally and physically fit. The benefits are amazing for the body and the brain, and you just need to spare about 15 minutes of your time every day to carry out this exercise. Here are 10 amazing benefits of yoga that will help you achieve inner well-being and achieve the physical fitness you desire.
1. Relieves stress
Stress is a daily part of life. Everybody experiences some form of stress may be from family, job and everyday life encounters. What is important is not how much stress you encounter in your everyday life; the most important thing is what you’re doing to manage it. Yoga is one of the most effective ways of managing stress.
The posing, breathing, and meditation are effective ways of reducing stress. It lowers the heart rate hence enable you to respond to stress in a flexible manner. The relaxation feeling you get when you’re on a yoga posture decreases the secretion of cortisol, (stress hormone) hence lowers the level of anxiety, depression, and fatigue. If you find it hard falling asleep, you should also practice some simple yoga exercises and lower insomnia.
2. Better breathing
When you’re doing yoga, you practice breathing deeply and calmly. There is a special yoga breathing technique called pranayama that focuses on slowing down the breath and breathing fully from your stomach to the top of your lungs. The essence of this is to make you more relaxed and balanced helping you face the day with confidence. They also have other benefits such as increased lung capacity and tidal volume. This is a simple breathing exercise that you can adopt into your daily life and help you stay calm in case of emergencies or stressful situations, and you can do it anywhere.
3. Reduce inflammation
Inflammation may be good for your body if it’s a sign that your body is responding to foreign substances. However, when it reached a point where you experience inflammation for no good reason, then it becomes harmful. Chronic in inflammation can result in various health conditions such as heart diseases, cancer or diabetes. Studies show that individuals who participate in yoga exercises have lower risks of experiencing inflammation. It is, therefore, important to practice yoga regularly to reduce certain health risks that can occur due to chronic inflammation.
4. Improve weight loss
Yoga is a great way to fuel your metabolic system hence enables the body to burn fat. Regular yoga exercises also restore hormonal imbalance helping you normalize your body weight. Hormone cortisol, which elevates stress levels, is kept at bay when you do yoga hence lowering your stress levels to maintain a healthy body. Additionally, yoga motivates you towards healthy eating habits thus help you stay away from consuming too many calories that result in being overweight.
5. Improve overall body strength
Daily yoga exercises help tone the body muscles and stretch them. There are several poses for strengthening various body parts including the legs, arms, shoulders, and the abs. The good thing about yoga is that it is fit for everybody because it’s a less strenuous exercise and you don’t need to overstretch your body when you’re just starting out. Your body gets used to it as you progress and within a few days, you will get the results when you get a flexible and strong body.
6. Fight chronic pain
Chronic pains are common occurrences that affect many people throughout their lifestyle due to different reasons including injuries and diseases. It even gets worse when painkillers only relieve the pain for a short while, and you have to keep using them. The good news is that you can now practice yoga and reduce many types of chronic pain. Yoga is scientifically proven to help reduce pain and increase physical function for people with carpal tunnel syndrome and osteoarthritis knees. So, if you suffer from chronic pain, incorporating yoga exercises could be a good remedy with no side effects like painkillers.
7. Enhance memory and cognitive function
Yoga is a good exercise for those who want to improve their learning activities, concentration, and improve memory capacity. The meditative nature of yogic exercise helps improve your brain functioning which is beneficial in school and at work. Yoga requires you to concentrate on your breathing which helps calm the mind and relax the body in general. When you’re mentally stable, your ability to collect and retain information is enhanced. Reducing mental stress and physical tension are also functions of yoga exercise and all these help relax the mind for better concentration.
8. Heart health
The heart is an essential organ in your body. It, therefore, needs to stay healthy and active throughout your life. Unfortunately, it is also the most prone to various health conditions. Studies show that yoga exercises may improve heart health and reduce some factors that cause heart diseases. Yoga helps lower your blood pressure when it gets too high, and this reduces the risk of suffering from high blood pressure. Yoga also helps minimize stress which can cause heart diseases.
9. Longer life
When you’re mentally and physically fit, you will increase your chances of living longer. Yoga improves the quality of life, improves your mood and reduces stress and fatigue. Yoga also enhances the quality of sleep, helps with spiritual well-being, reduce anxiety and depression, and improve your social function. It will also improve your fitness levels; improve your heart rate hence adding value to your life. A study also suggests that the meditative effect of yoga can delay the aging process since you stay fit and mentally stable all the time.
10. Better sleep
There is nothing as rejuvenating as a good night’s sleep. You wake up feeling fresh and ready to face the day. Unfortunately, most people can’t experience this because of pain, stress, and other life activities that overstrain them physically and mentally. If you’re one of them, then you better start doing some yoga. This is because yoga helps regulate stress levels, relax the mind, reduce anxiety and depression, and ease chronic pain. These are some of the things that will prevent you from getting better and longer sleep.