Yoga has a number of health benefits for women: it can aid in fertility, help relieve a hangover, and even perfect your posture. Here are some of the other important health-giving effects women can gain from regularly taking part in yoga.
- Improving Heart Health
Women have to be especially careful of the issue of heart disease because there isn’t as much literature or interest in this problem, even though it still occurs. This is one way yoga can absolutely benefit you and allow you to live a stronger, healthier life. Yoga helps to reduce one’s risk of heart disease, reduce arterial plaque, and increase your ability to exercise well and often, which is very good for your heart.
- Regulating Hormones
Your hormones can cause your body a lot of stress. They can often be the cause of high or low energy, fatigue, and, of course, cramps. But yoga can actually assist you with all of these issues while also helping to better regulate the glands in your body that are responsible for secreting hormones. One great posture for this type of result is a twist, which can also help minimize cramps.
- Treating Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
According to Psychology Today, depression is more common in women than in men, and there are many reasons for this issue. Anxiety disorders are also very common in women, and stress (either at home, at work, or both) can be a huge factor in causing these types of disorders. Luckily, yoga can help with that.
While it is still important to see a doctor if you are struggling with an anxiety or depressive disorder, to consider the option of therapy, and possibly even medication, yoga can be a great holistic treatment for these disorders. There have been many studies on the relationship between yoga and minimizing stress, anxiety, and depression, and in many cases, women suffering from PTSD have benefitted from practicing yoga.
This practice also allows for individuals to learn mindfulness exercises. Mindfulness helps one recognize and accept the world around them as it is, even if just for a little while, and this can be highly beneficial for those struggling with any of these issues.
- Better Cognitive Functions
Yoga can actually help you think more clearly and take out your mental trash, so to speak. Concentrating on yoga allows you to get rid of your physical and mental tension and to let go of the petty problems you dealt with during the day so you can get back to concentrating on what matters. And according to Live Science, yoga can even improve your memory.
- Less Insomnia
Yoga can actually fight insomnia, help you sleep better, and allow you to sleep more deeply. Restorative poses that ask you to breathe deeply and allow your mind to relax as well as your body cause you to turn your thoughts inward and to just focus on you. This allows for a deep relaxation that will improve circulation so you can sleep better.
- Improves Self-Esteem
Many women suffer from low self-esteem and attempt to self-treat this issue in dangerous ways. However, yoga is a completely healthy way of allowing you to feel better about yourself, mind and body. Yoga practices are about being comfortable with who you are right now and trying to gently help yourself to be better in the future. Practicing this type of thinking often will allow you to focus on yourself in a positive way and to build a better sense of self-esteem.
- Minimizes Pain
Chronic pain can be serious, and in some cases, requires medication. Whether you choose to treat your pain this way or not, yoga is a completely natural practice you can use minimize pain, and it doesn’t interact poorly with any medications like another drug or supplement might. In addition, mindfulness practices allow people constantly dealing with pain from disorders like fibromyalgia or carpal tunnel syndrome to acknowledge and deal with their pain without allowing it to control them.
Yoga is a healthful practice for people of any age and can often be altered for the benefit of the practitioner, making it helpful to almost any woman.