Yoga Has 6 Surprising Health Benefits

Yoga is the answer if being in shape physically and psychologically is a priority in your life. Yoga is practiced by millions of people and is growing in popularity every day.

Certain diseases have been soothed for people who practice yoga, according to research conducted behind the scenes. Anxiety, blood pressure, back pain, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and a variety of other disorders have all been managed by a yoga lifestyle. Arthritis, persistent tiredness, and headaches are among the illnesses that are on the verge of being alleviated or perhaps eliminated.

Yoga's positive side is that it empowers you to naturally cater to your body's requirements rather than relying on pharmaceuticals (depending on the severity of your ailment).

Yoga practitioners cite its mind-body advantages, such as flexibility, muscle tone, and stress reduction. Scientists have lately begun to investigate the effects of yoga on major medical problems. The findings have been so encouraging that researchers believe yoga will soon become a routine therapy for a variety of ailments.

Heart Problems

According to Erin Olivo, PhD, head of Columbia University's Integrative Medicine Program, yoga can help decrease blood pressure, cholesterol, and resting heart rates, as well as halt the advancement of atherosclerosis—all risk factors for heart disease.

While nearly any exercise is healthy for the heart, scientists believe that yoga's meditative component may offer it an extra boost by helping to maintain the endothelium, the blood vessel lining that contributes to cardiovascular disease when disturbed. Yoga may be creating a cascade of events that might lessen your chance of a heart attack or stroke since the lining reacts to stress and meditation can lower stress hormones.

Depression

People with depression frequently have low amounts of the neurotransmitter GABA in their brains; SSRIs, electroconvulsive treatment, and now yoga, it appears, can help raise GABA levels. According to preliminary study from Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard's McLean Hospital, healthy participants who performed yoga for one hour showed a 27% rise in GABA levels compared to a control group who merely sat and read for an hour. This adds to a growing body of evidence that yoga can help people feel better and lessen the symptoms of sadness and anxiety.

Breast Cancer

Women who practice yoga during and after treatment have less physical discomfort and stress, according to research. The findings of a pilot trial in which women with metastatic breast cancer attended eight weekly yoga sessions were published by Duke University experts in 2007. The ladies reported feeling less discomfort and being more active and calm, according to the experts.

Menopause

Menopausal women who participated in a weekly restorative yoga session, which employs supports to assist the postures, reported a 30% reduction in hot flashes, according to a pilot study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco. Many women who took a 90-minute Iyengar class twice a week reported increased energy and mood, as well as less physical and sexual pain, tension, and worry, according to a four-month research at the University of Illinois.

Chronic Back Pain

When doctors at the HMO Group Health Cooperative in Seattle compared 12 weekly yoga sessions to therapeutic exercises and a self-care manual, they observed that the yoga group not only improved faster, but also had advantages that lasted 14 weeks longer. "While many positions are beneficial," Gary Kraftsow, author of Yoga for Wellness, who devised the study's program, cautions, "sitting postures or excessive movement in one direction might make back discomfort worse."

Yoga has long been known for its health benefits. For many years, it has been acknowledged as the ideal practice for achieving peace, improved health, and a longer life.