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Benefits of Yoga
-Wendy Loh
The rise of yoga has been closely associated with proven studies that it is a great tool for treatment of stress, anxiety and depression. It is established as old and natural, a kind of elixir that can unwind bout of stress and as an agent to achieve miraculous health.
1. Promote Calm
Modern studies proven that yoga activates brain to release natural substances that act as strong anti-depressant, indicating a great possibility for the improvement of personal health. The levels of the amino acid GABA are much higher in those that carry out yoga than those do the equivalent of a similarly strenuous exercise such as walking. GABA, is important to the function of brain and central nervous system and which maintains a state of calm within the body. Low GABA levels are associated with depression and other widespread anxiety disorders.
2. Reduce Emotional Eating
Many yoga practitioners have hailed yoga as a great way to lose weight. Contrary to popular belief, while yoga did improve strength, endurance, balance and flexibility, they burned very few calories, a typical class used 144 calories in 55 minutes— the same amount burned during a slow walk. The real lesson is regular yoga practitioners awakens body awareness and it’s calming influence can reduce stress eating. Therefore, for people who made food choices based on emotion, regular yoga practice will increase their mindfulness and make them more conscious about food choices. The secret of weight loss is not related to a fast metabolism. It is about the psychological repercussions of undoing stress.
3. Manage Stress and Pain
With increasing scientific studies proven yoga can improve stress, anxiety, depression and well-being, medical practitioners have prescribed yoga lesson as a way to fight mental-related illness. In US, those patients have reported significant drop of anxiety, anger, depression and fatigue level among bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression patients. Hospital introduced controlled breathing, pranayama to war veterans who returned combat from Iraq and Afghanistan who suffered from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Result shows that stress hormones of those veterans such as cortisol and corticocopin drop substantially.
Every year, one hundred million people (which is about 20 times the size of Singapore population) suffered from depression and nearly one million of death is associated with depression-related suicides. With yoga and it’s benefits, we can make a world better place. Practicing yoga will lead to less sickness and more health as Iyengar once said “Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.”
Wendy
200TTC Weekday(Jan/Feb14)
