Fitness, Yoga

8 Benefits of Yoga – How Yoga Affects Your Life

Benefits of Yoga - Jasmine Pope - ShedBody
6 min read
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Updated: February 14, 2023

Do you want to feel the magic? Then choose Yoga today! You will never feel regret after observing the close 8 benefits of yoga – how yoga affects your life.

Often when people hear the word yoga they think of physical exercise. Why is yoga so popular? The real gift of yoga is not just as a physical exercise but also as a spiritual path that profoundly affects your whole life.

Yoga reminds us of the peace and inner freedom we can only find within our own hearts. It connects mind, body, and spirit.

Not only does it have wonderful health benefits of yoga such as improving flexibility and relieving stress, but also a form of meditation and a path to self-discovery. In this process personal growth and freedom from negative emotions are possible.

8 Health Benefits of Yoga to a Happier, Healthier You

Yoga is what we all do because of stress. Stress is the biggest reason that causes harm to our body, mind, and soul. So, yoga is the best stress buster technique that can be adopted by anyone who wants to live a healthy lifestyle.

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Especially from this, a learner can get useful tips for increasing student physical fitness. It helps you to reduce stress and helps you to remain healthy by doing different sorts of poses and breathing techniques.

Let’s look at 8 proven health benefits of yoga in greater depth:

1. Yoga helps reduce stress

Stress is one of the biggest causes of illness in our society today. It can lead to chronic conditions such as heart disease or depression if left untreated. Studies have shown that yoga can help reduce stress levels by up to 65% after only one hour of practice per week1

  1. This reduction in stress is due to yoga’s ability to reduce cortisol levels2 in the bloodstream
  2. Cortisol is a hormone that increases during times of stress and can cause serious health problems over time if unchecked.

2. Yoga improves flexibility

Yoga is known as a stretching exercise because it helps increase flexibility in your muscles and joints by improving your range of motion.

A study published in the Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies found that regular yoga practice could increase flexibility by up to 24% over two months —and even more if you make it a daily habit!34

3. Yoga Builds Strength

While yoga is often perceived as being primarily focused on flexibility and relaxation, it actually offers many benefits that go beyond these two areas—including increased strength! The poses in yoga are designed to work every part of your body, including the core muscles that support your spine and pelvis and provide stability for movement throughout your entire body (not just in one plane).

4. Yoga helps in lower blood pressure

Yoga can be a useful tool in lowering blood pressure. A study published in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology found that yoga helps lower high blood pressure.5

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Researchers looked at the effects of 10 weeks of yoga on people with hypertension who practiced yoga once or twice a week for 30 minutes each session. They found that those who did yoga had lower blood pressure than those who did not do yoga.6

5. Builds lean muscle mass

Yoga can help you build lean muscle mass with regular practice.

One study published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine found that after eight weeks of practicing yoga twice weekly for 45 minutes per session, participants gained more lean muscle mass than those who did not practice yoga during this period.7

Yoga also helped improve flexibility, balance, and strength in these participants as well as reduce stress levels through meditation techniques incorporated into most yoga sessions.

6. Helps with insomnia

Yoga helps you fall asleep faster by slowing down your heart rate and lowering blood pressure. Studies have found that those who practice yoga regularly have significantly lower resting heart rates than those who don’t exercise at all.

In fact, one study8 found that deep breathing exercises could make you feel more relaxed within minutes — even if you’re not doing any other form of exercise!

7. Helps with depression

Yoga can be beneficial in fighting depression because it promotes mindfulness and reduces stress through breathing exercises and meditation. When you’re feeling down, these activities can help give you more clarity about what’s going on in your life so that you can make better choices about how to handle certain situations.

8. Boosts energy levels

Yoga helps boost energy levels because it increases circulation throughout your body while also strengthening muscles and tendons throughout the body. This means that it will help increase endurance during workouts as well as reduce fatigue during the day when doing physical activity or working at a desk job.

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Conclusion

Yoga will only make you feel better and nothing else. It has only benefited people with no disadvantages. What else do you want? Whether you are a student or worker, young or aged, it is for all. Students must take full advantage of it. Why? Because it will do magic through effective positive impacts. So, wait no more, and take steps for your betterment!

Sources

  1. Int J Prev Med. 2018; 9: 21. doi: 10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_242_16. The Effect of Yoga on Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Women. Available here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5843960/[]
  2. Indian J Psychiatry. 2013 Jul; 55(Suppl 3): S405–S408. doi: 10.4103/0019-5545.116315. Cortisol and antidepressant effects of yoga. Available here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3768222/[]
  3. Volume 9, Issue 3, July 2005, Pages 211-219. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. Available here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-bodywork-and-movement-therapies[]
  4. Department of Exercise and Wellness, Arizona State University, 7350 E Unity Drive, Mesa, AZ 85212, USA. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2004.08.001. Physical and perceptual benefits of yoga asana practice: results of a pilot study. Virginia S.CowenTroy B.Adams. Available here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1360859204000610[]
  5. Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. Available here: http://www.ijpp.com/IJPP%20archives/2012_56_1_Jan%20-%20Mar/Jan-journal-2012.pdf[]
  6. Int J Yoga. 2016 Jan-Jun; 9(1): 27–34. doi: 10.4103/0973-6131.171710. Impact of 10-weeks of yoga practice on flexibility and balance of college athletes. Available here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728955/[]
  7. Asian J Sports Med. 2011 Dec; 2(4): 259–266. doi: 10.5812/asjsm.34742. How Effective Is Sun Salutation in Improving Muscle Strength, General Body Endurance and Body Composition? Available here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3289222/[]
  8. Front Psychol. 2017; 8: 874. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874. The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults. Available here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5455070/[]

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