Best Health Benefits of Yoga

The positive correlation of yoga and heart health is well established. Heart patients who routinely practice yoga see an improvement in cardiac and hypertensive problems with an overall reduced heart rate and a concurrent increase in heart muscle efficiency. In addition to lowering blood pressure, yoga has also been found to lower bad cholesterol.

All stress related issues see improvement as a result of a regular yoga regimen. The breathing skills necessary to the practice of yoga tend to decrease the overall respiratory rate and to improve lung volume. With more oxygen in the system the individual experiences less stress, has more energy, and gets more beneficial sleep. Additionally, digestive issues become more regularized.

Individuals with joint and range of motion issues resulting from injury or conditions such as arthritis will see a marked improvement in their flexibility and strength as well as significant pain reduction. This may be especially useful in people who are recovering from brain injury or stroke. Since all the yoga positions can be modified to accommodate their disabilities, yoga may have a place in their physical therapy program.

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People using yoga for this purpose report improved grip strength, increased hand-eye coordination, enhanced dexterity, better reaction time and an overall increase in strength and endurance. Depth perception and balance should also improve and the immune system will be stronger.

Increasingly those who are interested in losing weight turn to yoga as a low impact exercise alternative. The relationship between yoga, health, and fitness seems tied to the overall sense of enhanced well being the practice creates. A regular yoga routine tied to a balanced and healthy diet is an excellent way to get back in shape and to stay that way.

Psychological Benefits

There is also a definite correlation between yoga and mental health. Regular practitioners of yoga report an elevated sense of well being with marked mood improvement and a lessening of anxiety and depression. The practice of yoga tends to heighten concentration and to improve memory, attention, and one's capacity to learn. Many individuals who say they cannot engage in more passive forms of meditation achieve similarly positive results through yoga, which keeps them active and attentive but still effectively calms the mind.

Will Yoga Help Me To Live Longer?

All medical practitioners agree that some form of regular exercise is necessary to maintain a long, healthy life. Because yoga can be practiced by people of all ages and can be taken up at any stage of life, it is an excellent means of achieving this goal. There are even simple yoga postures individual's can use during their work day to limber their backs after sitting too long in a desk chair or to calm their breathing and still their minds after a stressful encounter with a coworker or even the boss himself. Both the exercise benefits and the meditative qualities inherent in the practice of yoga are life enhancing.

How Do Experts Feel About Yoga?

As international fitness expert Kelli Calabrese summed it up in her article, Yoga for Weight Loss, "When you think of yoga, images of zoned-out new-agers in pretzel-like positions chanting mantras, may come to mind, but consider this; Yoga is an ancient practice that can help you deal with the stress of modern life including being over weight. You don't need to be fit to reap the rewards of this discipline that is thousands of years old."

The health benefits of yoga are increasingly touted by the medical profession and by recognized fitness experts. There is no better prescription for stress relief than yoga and health improvement naturally follows. It's a feel better, feel thinner, be a winner solution.

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