Yoga Saves Your Life
Several are the people who have benefited from greater longevity due to yoga. The masters, who spend several hours each day on the postures, breathing exercises, and meditation, often live close to a hundred years. BKS Iyengar, the creator of the Iyengar style of yoga, lived to be 96. Indra Devi, another of the pioneers of yoga in the Western world, reached 102. Without talking about teachers, Lil Hansen, a teacher based in the United States, taught yoga classes until 2016, when she turned 105 years old.
The oldest yoga teacher in the world is Tao Porchon-Lynch, and she is 100 years old. In addition to being a spiritual guide, she is a recognized author and film producer. At 87, she began to practice ballroom dancing and even competed on television. So it’s no surprise that her mantra is, “There’s nothing you can’t do.” When the Hong Kong Tatler asked if she attributes yoga to her longevity, she replied, “When the mind remains calm, life awakens in us. Yoga helps you to control and still your mind so that you can harness that power. So correct Breathing is also the door to tranquility, longevity, and vitality.
Today, thanks to those who brought the discipline from the East to the Western world, nearby are millions of individuals everywhere around the globe who practice it. There is no doubt that India’s ancient culture knows something that our medicine is beginning to discover in these decades: there are many benefits of yoga for health and quality of life. Here we mention only 10 of them.
Table of Contents
1. Prevents aging
Turkish yogi Kazim Gurbuz looks more in his 50s than well into his 90s. He started working yoga at the age of 45, and today, at nearly 100, he doesn’t look a day older. And although the factors of aging are different for each individual due to genetics, diet, and exposure to sunshine, it has been proven that yoga can delay cellular aging.
Although more research is needed to prove this, a study published in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity had promising results. Practicing yoga can lengthen telomeres (the ends of chromosomes), whose shortening remains linked to aging. A lifestyle that includes yoga and meditation significantly reduces cellular aging.
2. Relieve stress
The consequences of stress can manifest in the body, in behavior, or in emotions. Focus, in moderate amounts, is suitable for getting us around in life: after all, it’s the force that pushes us forward to giving a presentation at work so we can get a promotion or study for an exam we need to pass. But if you feel exhausted, nervous, or sad all the time, and your eating habits are not in order, yoga can help reduce stress.
How? Several studies have shown that yoga lowers cortisol levels, the hormone your body releases when it goes into fight or flight mode. For example, a study that recruited 24 women to enroll in a yoga program found that the practice can reduce anxiety stages in as little as three months.
3. Calm Anxiety
According to the Mayo Clinic, feeling anxious from time to time is expected. But people with anxiety disorders constantly worry about their problems, some more serious than others, which interferes with their lives. Yoga could be the solution for these folks and anyone who worries too much: According to Healthline, yoga has remained shown to reduce worry and improve the quality of life for people with PTSD.
4. Helps You Sleep
What is the best benefit of relaxation and anti-stress techniques? Sleep, of course. In addition to benefiting from classes of the most common styles (such as Hatha Yoga), you can attend specialized classes against insomnia. Addition to performing postures and exercises that improve sleep quality, you will get advice to prepare the time to go to bed.
In a study published in NCBI, done on cancer patients, it remained found that yoga has a calming effect, translating into better sleep. Another study published on the same site formed three groups of elderly patients to try three different treatments for a good night’s sleep. The group that tried yoga slept more, but people also reported falling asleep faster and feeling more rested in the morning.
5. Fight Depression
Some studies have shown that yoga has an antidepressant effect. In other words, although it should not replace other treatments, it could reduce the symptoms of this mental illness. It happens because yoga has an anti-stress effect: it lowers cortisol levels, which in large amounts influences serotonin levels, the hormone that depressed patients depend on.
6. Reduces Chronic Pain
Chronic pain has a variety of possible causes, from arthritis to injuries, and, according to Healthline, affects millions of people. However, many studies are showing that yoga can help reduce pain. For example, one study recruited 42 participants with carpal tunnel syndrome, a condition in which the median nerve is beaten at the wrist, causing pain and numbness in the hand. Some treated their pain with a wrist splint for eight weeks, and others attended yoga classes. Yoga proved to be more effective against pain than traditional treatment to Yoga Saves Your Life
Another study, published in 2005, used Iyengar yoga to treat knee osteoarthritis, reducing pain and increasing range of motion.
7. Improves Breathing
Lung capacity is essential in patients with asthma, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and even anxiety disorders. Yoga has remained proven to increase the volume of air that can remain exhaled, improving airflow through the lungs.
A 2009 study found that pranayama, the breathing exercises included in yoga practice, improves symptoms and lung function in patients with asthma. However, other research has shown that only 15 weeks can improve lung capacity in apparently healthy people. Yoga Saves Your Life
8. Relieves Migraines
Migraine is a severe headache accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound, lasting up to 72 hours. Traditionally, it is treated through medication to relieve its symptoms. However, in a study available in the Worldwide Journal of Yoga, 60 patients were treated with conventional medicines, and some added yoga to their treatment. Yoga remained shown to decrease symptoms even more than medication treatment alone.
9. Change Your Brain
And it changes it for the better: According to Scientific American, people who practice yoga have remained shown to have more cells in some areas of the brain, specifically those where yoga works proceeding. The study remained conducted by Chantal Villemure and Catherine Bushnell of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and found that “with more hours of practice per week, some areas [of the brain] get larger,” Villemure tells the magazine. Scientific.
The somatosensory cortex, which has a mental map of the body, is one of the areas that is enhanced. The others are the superior parietal cortex. Which is responsible for attention, and the visual cortex, likely to remain enhanced by visualization techniques.
10. Helps You Listen To Your Body
This point is the result of all the previous ones. If we reduce stress, sleep well, and our mental map of the body is more straightforward. We can quickly deduce what we need to be healthy. Being stressed and sleeping poorly makes us lose connection with our physical state. We need a moment to rest, stop and meditate. Pay attention to what is happening, and give ourselves a break and live better. Yoga Saves Your Life
Conclusion
The Allure Blog, we have been discussing the importance of Yoga Saves Your Life. Hope you find this article informative and helpful. We would like to get your feedback in the comment section below.
Also read:
