Yoga is considered therapeutic – it has many evidence-based health effects ranging from increasing strength and flexibility to better sleep. It helps you become more aware of your body posture, alignment and movements patterns. This practice also helps you relax, but people mostly start practicing yoga to feel better, have more energy, to be happier and peaceful. All this benefits derive from the yoga postures, called Asanas, yogic breathing, called Pranayama and Meditation.
Here are listed just some of the physiological benefits of yoga:
-stabilises autonomic nervous system
-decreases pulse, cardiovascular efficengy increases
-blood pressure decreases
-respiratory rate decreases, respiratory efficeincy increases, breath-holding time increases
-beneficial changes in EEG
-gastrointestinal funcions normalizes
-muscoscelatal felxibility and joint range of motion increases, improves posture
-improves sleep
-decreases pain
-inreases balance etc.
It has been confirmed recently that yoga promotes longevity too, ie. actually slows aging and stimulates our regenerative potential.
Just one study published last year (2024) in the yournal “Age” (Age-related changes in cardiovascular system, autonomic frunctions, and levels od BDNF of healthy active males: role of yogic practice) found that even short yoga intervention lasting 3 months resulted in inprovements in cardiovascular and neurological funcion. The males from the study were in three age groups, and were practicing yoga one hour daily for three months. Both younger and older age groups benefited by lovering heart rate, blood pressure, total cholesterol, catecholamines (stress hormones) and other parameters. In the older group cortisol and adrenocorticothropic hormone (ACTH) desreased the most in comparison to the youngest gruop. Serotonin and dopamine that were lower at the beging of the study icreased in the higher age grop, which is an indication of improved brain funcion. (1)
Other earlier cunducted studies found that in elderly man and woman yoga improves respiratory funcition, memory efficinecy, mantains thel evel of growth hormones and DHEAS (the last two normally drop with age), improves sleep, reduces depression and many more. (1)
Sources:
1. Yoga’s Age-Defying Effects Confirmed by Science, https://greenmedinfo.com/blog/yogas-age-defying-effects-confirmed-science