Physiology
How does yoga affect our eating habits?
Once yoga becomes part of your lifestyle, your body will start to change at a deep level. Regular practice of asanas and specific breathing rhythms bring your body and mind into balance; it improves the functioning of the digestive organs, normalizes the excretory processes, and stabilizes the functioning of the endocrine system glands. The toxins accumulated in the body over years will be gradually removed. In addition, yoga practice restores the nervous system and brings about a balanced state of mind. When you are calm and healthy, you do not stuff yourself with unhealthy food to get rid of stress. Asanas give a sense of inner lightness, and it is unlikely that someone would want to change this condition.
Yoga for Weight Loss
A medium-build person doing classic yoga burns an average of just 150 calories per hour. We have slightly higher figures when it comes to the dynamic styles or hot yoga – around 300 calories, but this amount of energy expenditure hardly compares to what we can get even from regular brisk walking. However, it’s known for a fact that, from a weight loss perspective, exercise is only 20% of the equation, the rest being nutrition. 80/20 is the primary formula for those keen to lose weight, with yoga capable of doing most of the management thereunder.
Yoga and Metabolism
If you are interested in finding more about “yoga metabolism”, type these words into the Google search box and you will see many links to web pages about asanas that help boost your metabolism. Of course, energy-consuming, muscle-strengthening asanas, or active Sun Salutations, can do it. However, these are short-term effects, while in the longer term yoga decreases metabolism, and this is one of science-backed effects of yoga.
Yoga for Back Pain: 5 Studies
Back pain is a serious and common ailment, especially in those over 40. Sports and household injuries, fractures, herniated disks, bad posture and, of course, sedentary lifestyle… the causes may be different but the main problem is that back pain is resistant to treatment and can often be recurrent or chronic. The vertebral column is a critical component of our body and requires close attention.
boston-medical-center2A recent study reconfirmed the effectiveness of yoga in relieving back pain. The study involved 320 adult patients from Boston suffering from chronic moderate to severe back pain (scale score: 7 out of 10). Seventy-five percent of them took analgesics and 20% received analgesics containing opioids. The study was performed at BMC under the leadership of Dr. R and its results were presented at APM.
Yoga and the Cardiovascular System
Anyone who’s been through several rounds of Sun Salutations knows that yoga will quicken your pulse. The heart-healthy practice of yoga positively affects the cardiovascular network and its relationship to clean, oxygen-rich blood. Cardiovascular network: A healthy cardiovascular system is one that moves blood efficiently. A healthy heart carries nutrition from food and oxygen to fuel your muscles and organs, including your brain. The blood also discards waste products. More important than medical benefits, a healthy cardiovascular system increases mental alertness and vigor. A healthy heart equals a happy life.
Yoga & the Nervous System
You might wonder why after a challenging and sweaty session, stretching muscles in places you didn’t know existed, and testing your limits of focus and concentration, you can yet feel so deeply relaxed! Many of yoga’s benefits relate to its relationship with the nervous system. Here we explain how and why…
Nervous system 101
So the human nervous system has two main branches: Central (CNS), consisting of the brain and spinal chord; and Peripheral, linking the structures of the body, organs and limbs with the CNS. From the spine originate motor nerves, directing our movement, while sensory nerves lead back and forth to the brain, accomplishing appropriate responses to our outer and inner environments.
The Effects of Yoga on the Lymphatic System
Yoga impacts the lymphatic system possibly more than any other system in the body, due to the contractions and expansions required of asana. Because the lymphatic system has no independent pump, unlike the circulatory system which depends on the heart, it is entirely reliant on the physical activity of the body—it only has the power of your movement and your breath to keep it healthy.
What is lymph?
The lymphatic system keeps germs, viruses, toxins, and bacteria at bay. Because of its disease-fighting powers, a healthy lymphatic system is a key contributor to a body’s healthy immune response overall. An unhealthy lymphatic system can result in everything from poor digestion and the common flu to multiple sclerosis and even cancer.
Yoga’s Impact on the Musculoskeletal System
Musculoskeletal System is designed for support, movement and the protection of our internal organs. It consists of bones, joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons. Its health is conditioned by genetic factors, lifestyle, diet, climate, and the level of physical and mental stress. The progress of civilisation makes our life more interesting and safer, but it has led us to a sedentary lifestyle. Modern man doesn’t move enough or happens to do the wrong exercises, following fashion trends. As well, handling an incorrect load is dangerous, as is physical inactivity. According to statistics, about 25% of Americans have Musculoskeletal Disorders that require medical treatment and more than one-half of all chronic conditions in people over 50 years are related to Musculo-Skeletal system problems, such as: back pain, arthritis, osteoporosis, carpal tunnel syndrome etc.
Yoga and the Digestive System
A sedentary lifestyle, unbalanced diet, and frequent stress are the main enemies of our digestive system. As a result, it is probable that we end up with something from a large set of various ailments: indigestion, gastritis, constipation, flatulence, diarrhea, and colitis. For example, according to research published in ‘American Journal of Gastroenterology’ (2004), 63 million people in North America suffer from constipation (under Rome II diagnosis criteria). Let us see how Yoga can become our good helper in combatting such problems.
The direct positive effect of Yoga on the huma