10 Scientific Reasons to Start Yoga Now
While many consider the physical benefits of yoga practice, recent scientific research solidifies that yoga practice is incredibly advantageous to our overall well being.
Here's a deeper look at why you should start now:
1. Yoga Improves Flexibility.
Flexibility is an important component of overall health and is the most common reason that people begin yoga {1}. So it only makes sense to start with this as a primary benefit.
Improving flexibility means completing daily tasks easier and reducing risk of injury during other activities.
Additional benefits of yoga practice for flexibility are the variety of practice types and modifications available through use of yoga blocks and other accessories. These afford even beginners the opportunity to adapt and progress in their practice for success at any level.
2. Mental Health Wellness.
While the physical benefits of yoga are plentiful, some of the other major aspects of are inclusive of meditation, breath work, auditory rituals and more. These aspects combined have been shown to significantly relieve stress, improve depressive symptoms, and reduce anxiety {2}.
Yoga is often now being considered an effective alternative treatment for Major Depressive Disorder {3}, which is thought to be one of the most common mental health disorders in the world.
3. Reduce Inflammation.
Chronic inflammation in the body can often be a precursor to illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, Crohn's, and arthritis. Yoga, completed with variations in intensity, style, and duration, have been found to reduce the biochemical markers across several chronic conditions {4}.
4. Increase Strength.
While much of yoga has a focus on flexibility, another key component is involving core, stability, and strengthening.
Even with common poses like plank, warrior, dolphin push up, mountain and more, your body will be engaging in strength building practice. These assist in providing benefits of daily movements as well as a more active lifestyle.
There are also dynamic, active styles of yoga that are excellent for maximizing strength and mostly use body weight- so no additional supplies needed! Just your mat and your smile!
5. Improve Balance and Reduce Risk of Injury.
Balance is important for every day activities. Gaining stability with our bodies and core movements is one of many benefits of yoga. Yoga has also been shown to improve overall performance and balance with athletes {5}.
Improved balance, strength, and flexibility are key factors in reducing risk of falls or injuries. Consider options for adaptive yoga such as chair yoga, for someone who may be at higher risk for falls or have a disability.
Are you noticing the theme here yet? (wink)
6. Improve Cardiovascular Functioning.
Yoga practices incorporate breathing control techniques for clear mindfulness, focus, strengthening of lungs and improved oxygen intake.
Prāṇāyāma is one of the most important parts of the ancient traditional Yoga practices. Different types of prāṇāyāma techniques were shown to produce different effects, in which slow type of yogic breathing techniques were reported to improve cardiovascular and autonomic variables which might be useful for the prevention and the management of cardiovascular disorders {6}.
7. May Improve Joint Health.
With osteoporosis and osteopenia affecting up to 200,000,000 people worldwide today, a low-cost, low-risk alternative to medical treatments such as yoga can be desirable. One impressive study shows qualitative evidence suggesting improved bone quality and density as a result of the practice of yoga for just 12 minutes a day {7}! YES, please!
Isometric muscle contractions during yoga practice can also assist in providing stability, strength, and security of joints.
8. Improve Sleep and Quality of Life.
Yoga has been shown to improve how quickly people fall asleep, in addition to how deeply they stay asleep and overall improved quality of life {8}. These are thought to be interrelated with the mental ease, reducing anxiety, and restful body that are all focuses of yoga practice.
9. Promotes Better Posture, Body Awareness, and Self Esteem.
In a world where we sit often and spend time on devices, improved awareness of posture and our body positioning can only be a win.
Yoga poses help contribute to better body alignment by engaging our core and accessory muscles. It also aids in releasing muscles that can traditionally be tense or are shortened due to our daily habits and reduced activity.
Along with better awareness of our bodies, the aforementioned mental health benefits of yoga, and the possible physical changes of our body, one could also expect that yoga is a suitable choice for showing positive results of self esteem.
10. Improve Brain Functioning.
Yoga is a mind-body exercise. Research also shows that yoga and meditation may improve executive functions, such as reasoning, decision making, memory, learning, reaction time, and accuracy on tests of mental acuity {9}.
So this rounds out our TEN (plus) positive wins in the yoga category!
Conclusion
While some of the research suggestions are newer or have smaller samples, the consistency of the data shows that the benefits of yoga are abundant.
With both the variations and modifications of practice, you can certainly find something that is suitable to your needs! So now is the time to either begin or enhance your healthy, happy journey!
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