10 Unexpected Health Benefits of Yoga

We all want to make sure we’re taking care of our bodies in the best way that we can, and yoga is a great way to make sure that you’re taking care of both your mental and physical health. 

There are so many health benefits of yoga and implementing yoga as a consistent practice in your life.

Here are 10 yoga health benefits that might surprise you!

1. Boosts Your Immune System

Surprisingly enough, yoga can help boost your immune system. Both yoga practices of deep, mindful breathing and asana (posture) help lengthen and strengthen our lungs. This strengthening of our lungs helps improve our immune system. In addition to strengthening our lungs, yoga also helps relieve stress, which is another big contributor to a weak immune system. Relaxation from yoga can help tell your immune system to settle down and stop attacking foreign bodies, which will, in turn, help your symptoms to stop.

2. Can Help Lower Blood Pressure

If you have high blood pressure, you might greatly benefit from yoga. Poses like, savasana (Corpse Pose), have been shown to significantly drop blood pressure. Calming your body through consistent yoga practices can lower your blood pressure simply because you’re relaxing your body and helping release tension and stress that can lead to high blood pressure.

3. Regulates Your Adrenal Glands and Lowers Cortisol Levels

Yoga can help lower cortisol levels. And this is great news because high cortisol levels can lead to depression, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, and the desire to eat lots of food when you’re angry or stressed. And thankfully, yoga can help out with regulating all of that.

4. Improves Flexibility and Balance

Ok, you probably knew this one already. But it’s still an amazing benefit even though it’s an obvious one!

5. Can Help You Sleep Deeper

Restorative yoga practices like asana, savasana, and meditation can help you slow down, relax, and ultimately help you sleep deeper. Your nervous system is able to slow down while you practice. Regularly practicing yoga can help you sleep better and will ultimately help you be less tired and stressed throughout the day and help you be more productive.

6. Can Help Fight Depression

Some studies have found that yoga may help fight depression with an anti-depressant effect. This might be due to the fact that yoga can help lower cortisol levels in the body, which is a stress hormone that affects serotonin levels, which is often associated with depression.

7. Can Improve Heart Health

Yoga can help you lower your blood pressure, which will greatly improve your heart health. Yoga can also help slow the progression of heart disease by increasing your blood circulation, boosting levels of hemoglobin and red blood cells, and helping to thin your blood, which will all help in preventing heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots. 

8. Founds a Healthy Lifestyle

Yoga will ultimately help you to remember to move more and be mindful of the food you’re eating. Yoga not only helps with strengthening muscles, getting your heart pumping, but it also focuses on the importance of mindfulness. Living mindfully may help you consider what you choose to eat and why you choose to eat it on a deeper level. 

9. Helps You Focus

Practicing yoga will help you to remember to focus on the present and stop worrying about the future or what you may have going on for the rest of the day. Yoga helps us to remember the importance of focusing on the here and now. This focus taught in yoga, often through the practice of meditation, can help you be less distracted and more focused throughout the day.

10. Can Help Relieve Anxiety and Stress

Stress and anxiety can be dangerous, not only for your mental health but also for your physical health. Stress can lead to high blood pressure, sleep deprivation, weight gain, muscle tension, sickness, depression, and even a loss of sex drive. You can avoid these possibilities by remembering to take time to decompress and relax, and yoga can be a very effective way to do that. 

Are there any additional yoga health benefits that you’ve found in your yoga journey? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!