It is well known that yoga can help increase your flexibility, reduce your risk of injury, and reduce stress, but practicing yoga regularly can help you do more than touch your toes and find enlightenment. Yoga can also help you in your work and home life, in a few very surprising ways. Read on for five new reasons to take up a new yoga routine — or continue with the one that you already have!
Yoga Boosts Your Immune System
Research recently carried out in Norway found that practicing yoga helps boost your immune system at a cellular level. Yoga can therefore help to increase wellness — even in healthy people — and it can have even benefits for those recovering from illness. The immune systems of test subjects were much stronger than a control group who went on a hike, and the positive changes were very rapid, taking place when test subjects were still on the mat! Yoga can therefore help increase your physical resilience along with your mental resilience: a great reason to keep doing those sun salutations!
Yoga Helps You Deal With Food Cravings
Research conducted at the University of Washington in 2009 showed that yoga encouraged more mindful eating amongst practitioners, meaning that those who practice yoga regularly are less likely to mindlessly binge on junk food and more likely to be aware of what they are eating. This means that yoga can help you deal with the emotions that can lead to binge eating, as well as reminding you to stop eating when you are full. Yoga is therefore an excellent way to supplement your fitness routine, especially if you are trying to lose weight.
Yoga Can Help You Sleep
Research conducted with chronic insomniacs at Harvard showed that practicing yoga every day helped to improve sleep quality. The test subjects included meditation in their yoga sessions, and over time there was a significant improvement in many measures of sleep quality, including time spent asleep and latency of sleep onset. Other research has found that yoga can help reduce fatigue and increase sleep quality in people who do not suffer from chronic insomnia. Since yoga is a well-known remedy for stress, it can help you deal with the things that might usually keep you awake.
Yoga Gives Relief from Migraines
Research carried out in 2007 showed that three months of yoga practice served as an effective treatment for migraine, causing fewer migraines with less severity and pain. The research subjects also reported less anxiety and depression after they began yoga practice. Since some experts believe that migraines are caused by physical misalignment, yoga can help reduce debilitation of migraine sufferers by encouraging better muscle balance, and it can help reduce stress and ease anxiety at the same time.
Yoga Can Make You Better In Bed
Several scientific studies have reported that regular yoga practice can lead to increased sexual desire, better orgasms, and a heightened sense of satisfaction — for both women and men. In one study, men reported significant increases in all sexual functions after only twelve weeks of yoga practice. The breath control aspects of yoga can help you perform better, and regular yoga also increases blood flow into the genitals. This is a great reason to consider taking up couple’s yoga!