Yoga has been around for over 5,000 years and has historically been practiced to strengthen the connection between a person’s body and mind. Since the introduction of yoga to the United States in the 1890s, millions of people have taken up the practice.
To this day, scientists have found and keep on finding many health benefits of yoga. Most importantly, people who practice yoga have healthier hearts. People with pre-existing heart conditions that have adopted yoga into their health and fitness routines have lived longer and healthier lives and have improved heart health over those who don’t practice yoga. Let’s find out why.
Yoga Reduces Stress
Stress can appear in our daily lives from a variety of things. A high-intensity work environment, personal problems, life changes, etc., cause stress, which in turn causes high blood pressure, and unhealthy habits — smoking, overeating, and inactivity. While everyone may have different symptoms of chronic stress, the most severe side effects are all linked to the heart.
When your body is stressed, it releases hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which narrow your arteries and lead to less blood getting to your heart. In excess, these two hormones weaken your heart health and raise your blood pressure and heart rate.
As a solution, determined through the results of numerous studies, many cardiologists recommend yoga. Yoga requires deep breathing and a high level of focus, leading most people to forget about their problems while practicing.
Over time, yoga changes a person’s brain chemistry and positively affects their mood. Yoga also reduces depression, which may lead to a person working on their other unhealthy habits.
Yoga as Fitness
Being active is important for everyone, not just those with heart problems. However, it is even more important to have a fitness routine if you have a heart condition.
Frequent yoga practice increases a person’s lung capacity, allowing for higher blood oxygen levels. Yoga is also known to reduce people’s anxiety levels and help alleviate symptoms of PTSD.
One of the biggest benefits of yoga is that you can go at your own pace. There are many different types of yoga and yoga instructors, and many people even share effective mudras, also known as poses, that are good for heart health.
If you have a heart condition, you likely won’t be recommended to do heavy exercise but light or moderate exercise. Look for an active or moderate yoga program that requires you to do some muscle training and balance exercises. It is wise to tell your instructor that you have a heart condition beforehand so they can instruct you accordingly.
Yoga Helps You Think Differently
People apply the patience they learn in yoga to improving habits like overeating, smoking, or eating unhealthy foods. After all, yoga connects you with your body on a more intensive level and is technically exercise, so it makes sense that you would want to be more healthy after completing a 90-minute session.
By striving to maintain a calm and levelheaded mindset, yoga fanatics build more mindful and congenial relationships with people. There is no wonder that so many companies nowadays encourage their employees to do yoga. Not only are those who do yoga more productive in the workplace, but they also have lower healthcare costs.
Yoga causes a relaxation response and prevents excessive fight-or-flight reactions, enabling you to handle more stressful situations. Those with serious heart problems are told to avoid stressful or emotionally- and physically-intensive situations as much as possible. However, by practicing yoga, you can handle more without worrying about your heart.
See also: You will “Heart-ly” Believe The Ease of These Heart Healthy Exercises!
Have a Cardiologist in Lafayette, LA, Check Your Heart Health
Yoga is beneficial to people with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions and as a preventive measure to ward off the risk of future heart diseases. If you are experiencing the symptoms of cardiovascular disease and are looking for an experienced cardiologist in Lafayette, LA, contact Dr. Corwin A. Thomas to schedule an appointment. Our staff is well qualified to treat various heart diseases and teach you about habits that will develop your cardiovascular health.
Schedule an appointment with Dr. Corwin A. Thomas
Sources:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/how-yoga-may-enhance-heart-health
https://healthcareers.co/yoga-statistics/
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