Yoga: What You Need to Know

Yoga: What You Need to Know: Yoga is an ancient and complex practice, rooted in Indian philosophy. It began as a spiritual practice but has become popular as a way of promoting physical and mental well-being. There are many different yoga styles, ranging from gentle practices to physically demanding ones. Differences in the types of yoga used in research studies may affect study results. This makes it challenging to evaluate research on the health effects of yoga.

the health benefits of yoga:-

Yoga: What You Need to Know:

• Help improve general wellness by relieving stress, supporting good health habits, and improving mental/emotional health, sleep, and balance.
• Relieve low-back pain and neck pain, and possibly pain from tension-type headaches and knee osteoarthritis.
• Help people who are overweight or obese lose weight.
• Help people quit smoking.
• Help people manage anxiety or depressive symptoms associated with difficult life situations.
• Relieve menopause symptoms.
• Help people with chronic diseases manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

Although there’s been a lot of research on the health effects of yoga, many studies have included only small numbers of people and haven’t been of high quality. Therefore, in most instances, we can only say that yoga has shown promise for particular health uses, not that it’s been proven to help.

let’s see about yoga for wellness:

Yoga: What You Need to Know: Studies have suggested possible benefits of yoga for several aspects of wellness, including stress management, mental/emotional health, promoting healthy eating/activity habits, sleep, and balance.

Stress management:

A 2020 review of 12 recent studies of a variety of types of yoga for stress management in healthy adults found beneficial effects of yoga on measures of perceived stress in all the studies.
Of 17 older studies of yoga for stress management included in a 2014 review, 12 studies showed improvements in physical or psychological measures related to stress.

Promoting healthy eating/activity habits:

Yoga: What You Need to Know: A 2018 survey of young adults showed that practicing yoga regularly was associated with better eating and physical activity habits. In interviews, people who took the survey said they thought yoga supported healthier habits through greater mindfulness, motivation to participate in other forms of activity, and eating healthier. In addition, the yoga community itself was characterized as a social circle that encouraged connection, where healthy eating was commonplace.

Sleep:

Yoga: What You Need to Know: Yoga has been shown to be helpful for sleep in several studies of cancer patients, women with sleep problems, and older adults and in individual studies of other population groups, including people with arthritis and women with menopause symptoms.

Balance:

Yoga: What You Need to Know: In a 2014 review, 11 of 15 studies that looked at the effect of yoga on balance in healthy people showed improvements in at least one outcome related to balance. An additional study, published in 2016, showed that both yoga and stretching-strengthening exercises were effective in improving balance in healthy, previously sedentary older adults.

Can yoga help with menopause symptoms?

Yoga seems to be at least as effective as other types of exercise in relieving menopause symptoms. A 2018 evaluation of 13 studies of yoga for menopause symptoms found that yoga reduced physical symptoms, such as hot flashes, as well as psychological symptoms, such as anxiety or depression.

Is yoga helpful for people with chronic diseases?

Yoga: What You Need to Know: There’s promising evidence that yoga may help people with some chronic diseases manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life. Thus, it could be a helpful addition to treatment programs.

Cancer:

In a 2018 evaluation of 138 studies on the use of yoga in patients with various types of cancer (10,660 total participants), most of the studies found that yoga improved patients’ physical and psychological symptoms and quality of life.
Many yoga studies have focused on women who have or have had breast cancer. A 2017 review of 24 studies of women with breast cancer found moderate-quality evidence that yoga helped reduce fatigue and sleep disturbances and improved health-related quality of life. The effects of yoga were similar to those of other types of exercise and better than those of educational programs.

HIV/AIDS:

Yoga: What You Need to Know: A 2019 review of 7 studies of yoga interventions for people with HIV/AIDS found that yoga was a promising intervention for stress management.

Asthma:

Yoga: What You Need to Know: A 2016 review of 15 studies of yoga for asthma concluded that yoga probably leads to small improvements in quality of life and symptoms.

research about practicing yoga during pregnancy:-

Yoga: What You Need to Know: Physical activities, such as yoga, are safe and desirable for most pregnant women, as long as appropriate precautions are taken. Yoga may have health benefits for pregnant women, such as decreasing stress, anxiety, and depression.

• Being physically active is safe and beneficial for most pregnant women. However, some precautions need to be taken.
  • If you’re pregnant, you should be evaluated by your health care provider to make sure there’s no medical reason why you shouldn’t exercise.
  • You may need to modify some activities, including yoga. For example, you shouldn’t exercise in a hot environment (as you would in a “hot yoga” class), especially during the first trimester. You also need to avoid activities (including yoga poses) that involve long periods of lying on your back. Talk with your health care provider about how to adjust your physical activity during pregnancy.

Does yoga have benefits for children?

Yoga: What You Need to Know: Research suggests that yoga may have several potential benefits for children.

A 2021 review evaluated 9 studies of yoga interventions for weight loss in children or adolescents who were obese or overweight. Some of the studies evaluated yoga alone; others evaluated yoga in combination with other interventions such as changes in diet. The majority of the yoga interventions had beneficial effects on weight loss and related behavior changes. The studies were small, and some did not use the most rigorous study designs.

What are the risks of yoga?

Yoga: What You Need to Know: Yoga is generally considered a safe form of physical activity for healthy people when performed properly, under the guidance of a qualified instructor. However, as with other forms of physical activity, injuries can occur. The most common injuries are sprains and strains, and the parts of the body most commonly injured are the knee or lower leg. Serious injuries are rare. The risk of injury associated with yoga is lower than that for higher impact physical activities.

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To reduce your chances of getting hurt while doing yoga:

• Practice yoga under the guidance of a qualified instructor. Practicing yoga by self-study without supervision has been associated with increased risks.
• If you’re new to yoga, avoid extreme practices such as headstands, shoulder stands, the lotus position, and forceful breathing.
• Be aware that hot yoga has special risks related to overheating and dehydration.
• Pregnant women, older adults, and people with health conditions should talk with their health care providers and the yoga instructor about their individual needs. They may need to avoid or modify some yoga poses and practices. Some of the health conditions that may call for modifications in yoga include preexisting injuries, such as knee or hip injuries, lumbar spine disease, severe high blood pressure, balance issues, and glaucoma.

How popular is yoga in the world:-

Yoga: What You Need to Know: About one in seven U.S. adults practiced yoga in the past 12 months, according to a 2017 national survey. Among children aged 4 to 17, it was about 1 in 12. The percentage of people who practice yoga grew from 2007 to 2012 and again from 2012 to 2017. This was true for both adults and children.

National survey data from 2012 showed that 94 percent of adults who practiced yoga did it for wellness-related reasons, while 17.5 percent did it to treat a specific health condition. Some people reported doing both.

Much of the research on yoga in the United States has been conducted in predominantly female, non-Hispanic White, well-educated people with relatively high incomes. Other people—particularly members of minority groups and those with lower incomes—have been underrepresented in yoga studies.