The benefits of Yoga

Yoga has seen a resurgence in the last few decades with millions of people in both Eastern and Western countries embracing it. There is a multitude of benefits that this beautiful practice provides. Let’s look at some of the most common ones:

1. Eases stress: Yoga is world-renowned for its unparalleled ability to relieve stress and promote relaxation in practitioners. Cortisol is considered to be the biggest culprit when it comes to inducing stress. Yoga achieves the rare feat of reducing the amount of the cortisol hormone being secreted by the body. A crucial study performed a few years ago, manifested the massive effects of yoga on stress. As part of the study, 24 women, who had low self-esteem and were emotionally depressed, were followed and scrutinized. After a three-month rigorous yoga program, the women exhibited significantly dampened cortisol levels, further adding credence to the proposed relationship between reduction in stress levels and a consistent yoga schedule. They also demonstrated far lower levels of fatigue, depression, anxiety and stress. Another similar study that incorporated 131 people produced identical results and revealing that even as less as 10 weeks of yoga can lead to a conspicuous reduction in stress and anxiety levels.
2. Reduces inflammation in the body: Yoga not only improves the mental health of those who practise it. Some studies indicate a reduction in inflammation for those who practise it. Inflammation is generally innocuous and benign and can be dismissed as a natural immune response delivered by the body. But suppose it refuses to get to back to normal levels. In that case, we could be dealing with a far more potent and dangerous inflammation known as chronic inflammation. What chronic inflammation does is that it makes you more susceptible and vulnerable to a number of concomitant pro-inflammatory diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer.
3. A 2015 study separated 218 participants into two major groups: those who were regular practitioners of yoga and those who were guilty of neglecting it. Both these groups were asked to perform modest levels of exercise and a few sets of strenuous exercises to induce significant levels of stress in the body and the mind.
4. What they found at the end of the experiment could pleasantly surprise all the fitness enthusiasts out there. Those who practised yoga had significantly lower levels of inflammatory markers when juxtaposed with the results of those who didn’t practise yoga regularly.
5. A similar 2014, albeit a bit smaller, demonstrated the fact that just 12 weeks of yoga had the potential to reduce inflammatory markers in breast cancer survivors who continuously suffered from chronic fatigue.
6. Though we do need more research in these avenues to really substantiate these claims with confidence, we can at least be reasonably optimistic about the correlation between consistently practising yoga and the reduced risks of being afflicted with diseases that are corollaries of inflammations.
7. Radically improves your heart health: You heart is an integral aspect of your body to pump blood and nourishing tissues with the required oxygen for adequate growth. Many studies demonstrate a direct correlation between regular yoga and a reduction in the risks of heart disease. By emasculating the risk factors through healthy physical and mental exercises that are concomitant with yoga, you can get rid of toxic chemicals and other detrimental aspects of your life that are armed with the potential to desecrate the mental and physical peace that you enjoy the most. One study concluded that participants who were over the age of 40 and who were regular practitioners of yoga had significantly lower blood pressure and pulse when compared to those who weren’t consistent with these practices.
8. High blood pressure is one of the major contributing factors for heart diseases like stroke and heart attacks. Lowering your blood pressure can a have a direct, positive effect on your ability to combat these problems. Therefore, embrace the beautiful, nourishing practice of yoga and exhort others to embrace it too. Practising this can obviate the need for various medications to shield you from the pangs of the deadly heart diseases.
9. A revolutionary study that was conducted with the aid of 113 patients with heart disease closely examined the outcomes of prudently included yogic exercises and other meticulous, discerning dietary changes and stress management techniques that were consolidated to provide the most optimum, healthy schedule.
10. The participants observed a nosedive of 23% in the total cholesterol levels and a drastic 26% reduction in the pernicious LDL cholesterol. Besides, the progression of heart diseases was stalled prematurely in 47% of the patients.
11. While the role of yoga in the hampering of the proliferation of risk factors pertaining to heart diseases remains dubious, especially when it is contrasted with the role played by the changes in diet. But only can confidently stake a claim for yoga’s prominent position in the list of methods to alleviate stress levels.

In conclusion, incorporating yoga into your daily schedule is a propitious investment of time and energy that is sure to yield dividends, both in the short-term and in the long-term scheme of things. It ensures an amalgamation of the greatest virtues of both physical and mental exercises. The union of the body and the mind results in the wellbeing of you and your family. In uncertain times like this, it’s cardinal to understand the repercussions of any lapses in the maintenance of your emotional and physical welfare.