10 Benefits of Yoga

Updated on January 16, 2022

Yoga originates from a Sanskrit word that means union, aptly describing its goal of bringing together the mind and body through meditation, breathing exercises, and poses. When mastered, it is known to hold benefits that extend beyond the physical and mental to the spiritual, shaping a practitioner into his or her best version.

Today, we’ll be discussing 10 scientifically-proven benefits of practicing yoga.

Advantages of Practicing Yoga

From reducing stress and boosting confidence to fighting depression and promoting sleep quality, there isn’t much yoga can’t do to improve your life.

1. Lowers Stress Levels

When it comes to easing stress and soothing the mind, yoga is your best bet. It has been proven time and time again how this practice helps reduce the production of cortisol, the primary hormone that causes stress.

While it doesn’t guarantee the complete alleviation of stress, when used with other stress-relieving methods, like proper sleep and a healthy diet, you get a pretty powerful way of keeping stress levels in check. You can also consider going out for a yoga retreat in the UK, where you are away from the stress and have relaxation time in a quiet environment. 

2. Helps You Cope With Anxiety

Anxiety disorders can be disruptive to an individual’s daily life. They can keep you from pursuing your dreams and ruin your relationships. Anxiety is a terrible feeling that you just want to get rid of in any way you can. You’ll be happy to know, if you don’t already, that yoga happens to be a simple method of relieving anxiety.

Those with post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) and other anxiety-driven mental issues can practice yoga and see their symptoms decrease significantly. Again, while this isn’t always a sure thing, it is nevertheless a testament to the peace and tranquility yoga can infuse into one’s mind and body.

3. Reduces Inflammation

Aside from the mental health boost yoga provides, it may also help reduce inflammation. In the past, it has been shown that those practicing yoga showed fewer signs of inflammatory markers than those who didn’t. More than that, yoga was even able to help those with chronic inflammation caused by persistent fatigue and cancer.

4. Boosts Heart Health

Aside from being responsible for the circulation of blood throughout the entire body, the heart is also vital to our overall health. There is evidence strongly suggesting that yoga can help us better care for our strongest organ. It has also been proven that the yoga discipline may help in boosting heart health while also reducing the factors that put it at risk of diseases.

5. Helps Fight Depression

Depression has long been a problem for a lot of people, particularly for those of us living in these modern times. Yoga exhibits anti-depressant qualities that could help cut down symptoms of depression. This could be, in part, due to the decreased levels of cortisol or stress hormones in the body.

6. Helps Reduce Chronic Pain

Millions of people around the world are victims of chronic pain. Some of those suffering from arthritis and injuries have come to rely on yoga to help alleviate the pain caused by their conditions. In fact, yoga performed better as a pain treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome compared to a wrist splint.

7. Promotes Better Sleep Quality

Our health revolves around proper sleep. Indeed, no truer words have been spoken since proper sleep can help prevent depression, obesity, high blood pressure, and other disorders.

Those suffering from sleep disorders can now look to yoga as a treatment. Doing yoga regularly can help you get longer and better quality sleep. While the way yoga accomplishes this feat still isn’t clear, it has been shown to increase the production of melatonin, which regulates wakefulness and sleep.

8. Improves Balance and Flexibility

A bonus you get from doing yoga properly is improved flexibility and balance. These are two skills you slowly and gradually develop as you work through different yoga poses. It is also believed that religiously practicing yoga for a year can increase your flexibility by more than four times.

9. Improves Breathing

Awareness of breathing is the very core of the yoga discipline. Among the major components of yoga are breathing techniques and exercises that help practitioners gain better control of their breath.

10. Promotes Healthy Eating

Yoga is designed to help us focus on the present moment with regards to everything we do, including eating. It promotes what is known as mindful eating, which makes you pay close attention to the feelings you go through while eating. It lets you adapt a mindset where you avoid foods that aren’t nutritious because they don’t create good sensations.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it: the 10 amazing benefits of incorporating yoga into your daily life. The fact that we’ve barely scratched the tip of the iceberg on this matter shows that the extent of yoga’s powerful influence on our health and well-being is yet to be fully uncovered.

For even more helpful information on the rest of yoga’s life-changing advantages, you can get more on this site.

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