The Health Benefits of Yoga
Reduce stress, lose weight, improve depression
Yoga can help to balance stress hormones
Chronically elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol have been associated with various health conditions such as high blood pressure, insomnia, weight gain, weakened immune functions, depression, etc.
Research has shown that yoga and other low-intensity exercises help to decrease cortisol levels. Yoga seems to be particularly beneficial as it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps you to relax and thus to reduce cortisol levels.
According to a study published in the India Journal of Psychiatry, practicing yoga for 3 months can help to reduce cortisol levels in patients suffering from depression.
Yoga can support weight loss
While yoga burns fewer calories than exercises performed at high intensity, it is still beneficial for weight loss. A study funded by the National Institutes of Health compared individuals that took restorative yoga classes with individuals that performed stretching sessions over 48 weeks.
The yoga group an average of 1.3 kg ((2.8 lbs) compared with 0.7 kg (1.5 lbs) for the stretch group. Apart from that, the yoga group lost 2.5 times more…
