How yoga improves your health - part 1
The ‘why do yoga’ answered for new students by Yoga Journal which cites 38 ways yoga improves your health, here are the first 10 medical heavyweights…
Improves flexibility - regular practice helps the body to loosen & over time you may feel aches & pains disappear, this is no coincidence - tight hips can cause improper alignment of the thigh & shinbones causing strain on the knee joint, tight hamstrings can cause a flattening of the lumbar spine which can trigger lower back pain.
Builds muscle strength - helping to protect us from arthritis & back pain & also aids stability in older people.
Perfects your posture - human skulls are heavy; with our skeleton erect they are much lighter however poor posture from desk bound jobs, phone use etc, means their weight causes neck & shoulder stiffness & can cause back problems.
Prevents cartilage and joint breakdown - yoga takes your joints through their full range of motion; joint cartilage is like a sponge; it receives fresh nutrients only when its fluid is squeezed out and a new supply can be soaked up, this happens with movement. Without proper sustenance, neglected areas of cartilage can eventually wear out, exposing the underlying bone like worn-out brake pads.
Protects your spine - spinal disks; the shock absorbers between the vertebrae that can herniate and compress nerves, crave movement. That’s the only way they get their nutrients, long term flexibility is a known benefit of yoga, but one that remains especially relevant for spinal health.
Betters your bone health - it’s well documented that weight-bearing exercise strengthens bones and helps ward off osteoporosis. Many postures in yoga require that you lift your own weight. Yoga’s ability to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol may also help keep calcium in the bones.
Increases your blood flow - Yoga gets your blood flowing & the relaxation exercises you learn in yoga can help your circulation, especially in your hands and feet. Yoga also gets more oxygen to your cells, which function better as a result. Inverted poses, encourage venous blood from the legs and pelvis to flow back to the heart where it can be pumped to the lungs to be freshly oxygenated. Yoga also boosts levels of hemoglobin and red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the tissues & it thins the blood by making platelets less sticky & by cutting the level of clot-promoting proteins in the blood. This can lead to a decrease in heart attacks & strokes since blood clots are often the cause of these killers.
Drains lymph and boosts immunity - when you contract and stretch muscles, move organs around, & come in and out of yoga postures, you increase the drainage of lymph (a viscous fluid rich in immune cells). This helps the lymphatic system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells, & dispose of the toxic waste products of cellular functioning.
Increases your heart rate - studies have found that yoga practice lowers the resting heart rate, increases endurance, & can improve your maximum uptake of oxygen during exercise, all reflections of improved aerobic conditioning. One study found that subjects who were taught only pranayama (breath work) could do more exercise with less oxygen.
Lowers your blood pressure - two studies of people with hypertension, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, compared the effects of Corpse pose with simply lying on the sofa. After three months, Savasana was associated with a 26-point drop in systolic blood pressure (the top number) and a 15-point drop in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number), plus the higher the initial blood pressure, the bigger the drop.