Many yoga enthusiasts swear by this form of exercise over going to a gym as the best way to stay in shape and lead a healthy lifestyle.
Yoga has proven its benefits with weight loss, muscle definition, and keeping a healthy mind and body. For years people have endorsed cardio as the best way to lose weight and get healthy, however that may no longer be the case. Yoga may be more beneficial than a workout done at the gym.
More and more research is coming out on how yoga is actually the best fitness program for people. Yoga can improve sleep patterns, flexibility, muscle definition, and of course be a very significant aid in weight loss. A study conducted by the University of Maryland School of Nursing tested the results of yoga compared to aerobic training. The health benefits of both exercises were examined and one area that yoga was significantly stronger in was being an excellent stress reliever. In addition to relieving stress, yoga also outperformed aerobic exercise in fields like strength, flexibility, balance, and daily energy levels.
The reason yoga is dismissed as a good exercise is because people do not consider it rigorous enough as it consists of mostly stretching. However, yoga is more than just stretching and is a great way to provide meditation as well as exercise. Yoga’s benefits of reducing stress lead to better diets. Research has shown that high levels of stress cause changes in food behavior. This could mean stress can make a person reach for sugary snack, eat more, or eat less, all of which are not good for a healthy diet. Yoga provides exercise for the body and mind and will therefore help a person lead an overall healthier lifestyle in every sense. Regular yoga practice has been linked to better diets due to the awareness that yoga causes. Practicing yoga helps create more of a physical and emotional awareness, resulting in the person being more aware of his or her emotions and choosing the appropriate foods to match those. The ability to be more in tune with emotions and therefore understand what the body wants is one reason why yoga may have more health benefits than a gym.
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