Are you thinking about starting Yoga or even been practicing for years?
If so, You have to check out this list!
We have scoured the internet to put together the collection of the 100 health benefits of Yoga that are supported by scientific study.
So, you will be under no doubt that Yoga is not only a fantastic experience; it is an activity that can have huge health benefits.
Ready?
Dive in.
General benefits
Improves your balance – There are transitions and poses within Yoga such as the half-moon or tree pose that focus on balance.
Helps you sleep – A study conducted using 120 people showed that you could gain an average of an extra hour of sleep.
Reduce Chronic Pain – Yoga can help you manage your pain-and-stress response.
Improves dietary choices – Yoga is proven to alter your state of mind in many ways (which we will go into later) according to this study, you will even make better dietary choices for your body.
Help losing weight – Yoga is considered an exercise, and it helps you make better dietary choices … are we surprised it can help you lose weight?
Reduce binge eating – Self-reporting individuals state they experienced less binge eating once they had started practicing Yoga.
May reduce inflammation – This study looked at inflammation markers and saw the number reduce when the individuals practiced Yoga (this included people with long term inflammatory conditions)
Improves mobility – Here are 10 cool stretches that you can do to increase your mobility (and flexibility)
Help with Headaches – Headaches are often caused by tension and stiffness in your neck, so following Yoga poses to release this tension will help your headache!
Migraines – Although researchers are currently unsure why Yoga helps with migraines (they think it is something to do with the parasympathetic nervous system) studies have shown that it does!
Improves Stamina – As you are exercising and stretching your muscles over time, you will experience an increase in stamina!
Helps with urinary stress incontinence – As this is an inflammatory condition, Yoga can potentially help reduce symptoms of urinary stress incontinence.
Diabetes – yoga associated lifestyle can help with the management of Type 2 diabetics and its associated risk factors.
Increased Energy – The use of yoga ‘power poses’ are perceived by their users to increase their energy levels!
Increases the chances of a date – According to wired and some of the top dating sites yoga is an excellent aspect of creating a good profile and helps you generate a match!
Rejuvenates pancreatic cells – Some Yoga poses stretch the pancreas, which aids the production of insulin-producing beta cells.
Improves breathing – The breathing exercise associated with Yoga allows you to improve your lung capacity!
Regulate your bowels – There are several poses such as the Toe pose and the boat pose that can aid digestion!
Decrease gut bloating – The same poses that can regulate your bowels can also decrease bloating.
Immunity – Fight that cold – Yoga has been shown to improve the immune function within the body.
Carpel Tunnel Syndrome – doctors even prescribe gentle wrist and arm movements that to aid Carpal Tunnel! There are a few more yoga hand exercises that can aid the healing process.
Improve cardiovascular health – There are endless studies that show Yoga can help your cardiovascular health.
Helps you quit smoking – Hopkins medicine even claims that Yoga can help with smoking cessation.
Reduce falls in the elderly – Yoga can help balance, and this has been connected to reducing falls and confidence in elderly people.
Improved body awareness – Yoga has been shown to reduce the amount of self-objectification that individuals put themselves through
Circulatory System
Bloody pressure – This paper suggests that Yoga Improves diastolic blood pressure!
Improved blood flow to organs – Many yoga practices, lead to increased activation of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which increases the blood flow to the intestines and other organs.
Reduce cholesterol – Yoga is named as one of the ways to reduce high cholesterol – that means a much healthier heart!
Improves Myocardial Perfusion – There is an improvement in cholesterol levels is improved, and you can have increased blood flow, this is further investigated, and Yoga has a demonstrated improvement in myocardial perfusion in people with ischaemic heart disease.
Improves Glucose levels – This study shows that the use of Yoga can enhance your blood sugar level!
Skeletal Health
Improve posture – With muscle strength improving this leads to a better posture.
Protects your spine – building your abdominal and other muscles will allow you to protect your spine.
Bone health – This can be improved through the use of Yoga.
Yoga can help prevent the breakdown of cartilage and joints.
Loosen stiff joint in osteoarthritis patients.
Flat Feet
Muscular Health
Improves your flexibility
Reduce back pain
Releases tension in your muscles.
Increase muscle strength.
Improve the tone of muscles.
Mental Health and brain function
Reduces Stress
Relieves depression.
Reduce anxiety
Improves mood
Improves self-esteem
Improves mindfulness
Improve concentration
Inner peace- Feel more relaxed and peaceful when you do Yoga
Self-compassion, Yoga is about the mind and soul too! It can help yourself be more compassion with oneself.
Intrapersonal relationship – Yoga can help improve your relationship with yourself.
Self-sooth – With a mindful aspect as well as focusing on exercise, Yoga can help you self-sooth.
Reaction time – Be quick! Yoga can increase your reaction time.
Working Memory – Speed and accuracy of the working memory is also a key benefit of Yoga.
Mental balance – The mind is also a key aspect of Yoga – well Yoga can help with your inner peace and mental balance.
Delayed recall – Can you remind me… yoga can help with concentration and improve your delayed recall!
Immediate recall – being asked to speak back a shopping list you have been given? Well, this form of exercise can help you with immediate recall.
Visual retention – Do you remember? Yoga can help you remember the visual aspects of things.
Visual recognition – Improve your ability to recognise things visually.
IQ – It has been proven that in both children and older people, Yoga can contribute to an increase in an individuals IQ scores.
Task switching – yoga can help with coordination and concentration and now also task switching.
Relationships – Yoga holds promise to help with interpersonal relationships
Better intuition – Yoga is an ancient discipline that improves mindful focus, including intuition.
Self-control – Yoga helps you relax but also can improve your self-control.
Improve productivity – This resource says it improves work productivity… but why not apply this in every aspect of your life!
Community connectedness – your sense of connection with others and sense of community, will improve the more you practice Yoga.
Social confidence – Improves social confidence in children – a combination of massage, Yoga and relaxation within young children with identified emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Communication – The same combination of massage, Yoga and relaxation within young children with identified emotional and behavioural difficulties has also proven to help them communicate.
Reproductive, Pregnancy and Menopause Benefits
Sexual function – Yoga has proven to improve sexual functions and help with sexual disorders in women.
Premature Ejaculation – Want that feeling to last longer? Practicing Yoga helps improve premature ejaculation in men.
Blood flow – Yoga has been shown to increase blood flow to your reproductive organs.
Improves Maternal Comfort – Getting comfortable is difficult while you are pregnant, well Yoga can definitely help you with that!
Time in labour – Yoga has been shown to reduce time in the first stage of labour and the total time!
Labour pain – Top tip: Yoga can reduce your labour pain, win!
Climacteric Syndrome – It is proven to improve hot flushes, night sweats and cognitive functions for people with climacteric syndrome.
Birth weight – Yoga is proven to improve a baby’s birth weight.
Preterm Labour – Yoga reduces the chances of preterm labour.
Intrauterine Growth Restriction – This is where the Fetus is not growing at the expected rate, Yoga is proven to reduce regardless of if it is in isolation or associated with Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH).
Uteroplacental circulation – Yoga is proven to reduce impedance in uteroplacental circulation, which delivers nutrients to the Fetus.
Fetoplacental Circulation – Yoga is proven to reduce impedance in the fetoplacental circulation.
Menopause – There is evidence that Yoga can relieve urogenital and psychological symptoms associated with menopause.
Improves Adiponectin level. These improvements have proved to occur in obese postmenopausal women. Better Adiponectin level can improve inflammation insulin resistance and reduce the risk of diabetes.
Serum Lipids Levels – The lipid levels are utilised to indicate cardiac function are proven to improve in postmenopausal women.
Reduces metabolic risk – The reduced metabolic risk occurs in obese postmenopausal women.
Long-Term Conditions
Fibromyalgia – Yoga is a common exercise recommended for people with fibromyalgia as it is a way to stretch muscles and joints gently.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) – Yoga has been proven to improve bladder function, pain, spasticity, weakness, and walking in people with MS.
Stroke – As Yoga has several poses that focus on balance yoga can improve post-stroke patients balance.
Ulcerative Colitis – This study has proven that Yoga can improve your quality of life for people suffering from Colitis.
Rheumatoid arthritis – As an exercise, you can do to the extent you feel able it can help ease your joints, leading to improvements in your physical and psychological symptoms.
Osteoarthritis – Yoga can help an individual with osteoarthritis to realign their skeletal structure.
PTSD – As Yoga is about mind-body and soul, it was found to be a useful adjunct treatment for people with PTSD.
Schizophrenia – According to this study yoga may be a variable alternative for mental illnesses.
Coronary Heart Disease – This study shows how Yoga decreases anginal episodes in patients with Coronary heart disease.
Coronary Lesions- According to scans taken, people who participate in Yoga had a regression of coronary lesions!
IBS – Yoga can improve the bioenergy circulation around the intestines reducing the symptoms of IBS.
Chronic bronchitis – According to experts, Yoga can improve lung function when used in conjunction with other conventional forms of therapy for COPD patients.
Reduces fatigue in Cancer patient – this study shows how the use of Yoga can moderately reduce fatigue currently with and post Cancer.
Can help ease Asthma – Within the different types of Yoga there is a focus on your breathing as well as the pose you are in. This can increase your lung capacity and help with day-to-day lung function.
Help Asthma while exercising – This study shows that yoga breathing techniques used long-term can decrease exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in Bronchial Asthma patients.
Heart Failure – This study indicates that Yoga can help with cardiovascular endurance, quality of life, inflammatory markers, and flexibility in people with heart failure.
Think we have missed a few?
Let us know in the comments below!
