5 Health Benefits of Yoga

What are the health benefits of yoga, you ask?

What is Yoga?

Yoga is an ancient form of exercise that focus on strength, flexibility and beating to improve your physical and mental health. Yoga also encourages relaxation and can reduce stress.

Originating from Indian, yoga is a group of physical, mental and spiritual practices that are aimed at controlling and stilling the mind.

Yoga has said to bring lots a health benefits to your physical and mental health - here we explore 5 health benefits of yoga.

1. It can improve your mental health

Many people have stated that practicing yoga has helped to improve their mental health, in particular decrease anxieties. There is quite a lot of scientifically proven research that supports the idea that yoga decreases anxieties and reduces stress.

Other studies show that yoga may have an anti-depressant effect and could help decrease symptoms of depressions. Yoga is able to decrease levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone that influences levels of serotonin - the neurotransmitter often associated with depression. 

2. Builds your strength, flexibility and balance

Yoga poses are designed to build up strength and is considered a great exercise regime for purpose strength building goals. If you are wanting to build up your strength, there are specific yoga poses that can assist with strength building.

Many people also participate in yoga to improve their flexibility and balance - again, there are specific poses designed for this purpose if desired. Practising yoga for just 15-30 minutes each day will make a huge difference.

3. It can promote sleep quality

Poor sleep quality has been known to contribute to obesity, high blood pressure and mental health issues such as depression.

Some studies have shown that yoga has helped to improve sleep quality, statistics show that over 55% of yoga practitioners has improved sleep and over 85% reported that yoga had also reduced their stress levels.

4. It can improve heart health

Studies show that yoga has been known to improve heart health and reduce risk factors of heart disease.

Yoga has been known the decrease blood pressure in some participants. High blood pressure is one of the main causes of heart problems, the lowering of blood pressure can help reduce these problems.

5. It can help reduce aches and pains

In a lot of cases, yoga has been known to alleviate aches and pains. We move in lots of different ways and motions during yoga exercises which works as a 're-set' for your posture.

Good posture ultimately leads to less aches and pain throughout the body, which is why a lot of people practice specific breathing exercises and poses during yoga which has been known to reduce chronic pain and stiffness.

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