Yoga is a perfect exercise to body and mind. Practicing yoga offers a myriad of health benefits, including healthy and robust body, increased focus, and concentration, peace of mind, etc. This practice entails low-impact physical activity, postures (called asana), respiratory techniques (pranayama), relaxation, and meditation. Most people are familiar with the physical poses or yoga positions however, do not know that yoga involves so much more. Yoga has its significance since the early days. And, it is true that Yoga has helped many of us to live serene and peaceful lives. Let’s take a look at 10 proven advantages of yoga.
1. IMPROVES YOUR FLEXIBILITY AND POSTURE
You only need to embody yoga in your daily routine to make a body that is robust, supple, and agile. Regular yoga practice tones and stretches the body muscles and also makes them strong. It also helps to improve our body posture when you stand, sit, sleep, or walk. In turn, this would help relieve you of body pain due to incorrect posture.
2. LOWERS BLOOD SUGAR
Yoga lowers blood sugar and LDL “bad” cholesterol and boosts HDL “good” cholesterol. Yoga has been found to lower blood sugar in people with diabetes in several ways: by encouraging weight loss, lowering cortisol and adrenaline levels, and improving sensitivity to the effects of insulin. Get your blood sugar levels down, and you decrease your risk of diabetic complications such as heart attack, renal failure, and blindness.
3. WEIGHT LOSS
Yoga is a rattling tool to cut back excess weight. Yoga for weight loss can be effective, it can help you boost your metabolism, and build stronger muscles. It includes numerous asana to burn calories. It acts like an aerobic exercise when done in moderate speed, thereby helping one to get in shape. The king of asanas, Surya Namaskar works on the whole body, making it the ideal posture of yoga to lose weight. It tones the neck, shoulders, spine, arms, hands, wrists, leg, and back muscles. The key lies in the manner in which it is done. For best results, do it while keeping your navel tucked in.
4. BETTER BREATHING
Yoga includes better breathing practices called Pranayama, which can be effective for reducing our stress response, improving lung function, and inspiring relaxation. Many pranayamas emphasize deepening and slowing down the breath, which activates the body’s parasympathetic system, or relaxation response. We can significantly affect our body’s experience of and response to stress by changing our pattern of breathing.
5. CIRCULATION
Yoga is one of the most dynamic ways to enhance our blood circulation, and when your blood is effortlessly replenishing, it naturally gets your skin glowing and rejuvenating. Yoga practice provides healthier organs, skin, and brain by transporting nutrients and oxygen throughout your body. Holding some yoga poses will increase circulation throughout your spine, glands, and organs, delivering that fresh blood and oxygen your body craves.
6. BOOST ENERGY
Regular yoga practice provides consistent energy. In fact,you will feel energized after your yoga session rather than sluggish, when you perform most yoga postures correctly.Studies show that some yoga poses regulate the hormone cortisol and reduce fatigue which can zap your energy. The poses also require balance, which sharpens your focus, as well as lots of deep breaths, which increase your oxygen intake to help you feel more alert.
7. YOGA NATURALLY REDUCES PAIN
This is one of the most salient features of Yoga. There are innumerable studies proving that yoga can be very effective at relieving pain. It does not matter if you suffer from fibromyalgia; arthritis, or migraine headaches, yoga has been proven to effectively reduce pain from all these ailments. And if you are one of those people that suffer from back pain, yoga can make that pain practically disappear.
8. CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONING
Regular yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by increasing endurance, lowering heart rate, and improving oxygen intake during exercise.
9. MENTAL SHARPNESS
Regular practice of yoga has been proven to help with memory and concentration, and even, in recent studies, it’s been shown to help prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease.
10. INCREASE YOUR SELF-ESTEEM AND AVOID STRESS
The hustle and bustle of life have become a serious cause of stress and anxiety for many of us. You can often see the stress visible in faces through the worry lines on the forehead, which can indicate the state of mind. The good news is that we have yoga to improve our rebuild self-confidence and well-being. Yoga will give your self-esteem that extra boost. Yogic practices can help improve mood, combat the symptoms of depression, and increase overall feelings of self-worth. It can also elevate your mood and overall sense of well-being.
-Travelrasoi
