Tremendous Health Benefits Of Yoga As We Age

Over time our bodies become stiff, less stable and weaker, especially over the age of 55. Therefor, by using your own body weight in a safe and low-impact activity, combined breathe work, yoga helps increase the bodies overall strength, flexibility and endurance. If practiced regularly, this functional and dynamic movement can alleviate aches and pain while improving many other aspects of life. Yoga poses can also easily be modified to accommodate all fitness levels and abilities, therefor anyone can participate and start practicing at any age.

1. Improves Flexibility & Bone Health

Practicing yoga regularly tremendously effects flexibility. Deep stretching reduces your risk of injury during exercise and in everyday tasks. In particular, Yin Yoga (a slower yoga practice), targets the connective tissue through holding yoga poses longer. Weight bearing exercise such as yoga also enhances your balance and stability to keep bones healthier for longer.

2. Creates Balance & Strength

Slow, controlled movements not only help improve your balance, but promotes proper spinal alignment and protect against injury. As you move your body in new ways, your major stabilizing muscles need to adapt. Yoga poses test your strength, balance and coordination, which allows for overall muscle tone and strength, as well as better core stability.

3. Supports Muscle & Joint Health

Ligament tears are common in aging, stressed and over-used joints, especially knees, shoulders, hips and ankles are most susceptible to injury. Yoga helps you strengthen the muscles around your joints. By enhancing blood flow, while decreasing lactic acid in the muscles, you naturally decrease joint pain. this enables you to move through life less stiff and sore. Yoga helps loosen muscles, tendons and joints, allowing us to improve flexibility, strength and range of motion. This in turn reduces the risk of pulled or strained muscles.

4. Boosts Circulation & Heart Health

Yoga helps relax blood vessels, and increases circulation. Therefor, it helps lower your blood pressure and supplies oxygen to your muscles and vital organs. Holding yoga poses also stimulates the lymphatic system by causing your muscles to squeeze the lymphatic vessels, and effectively circulating lymph. This circulation of white blood cells helps boost your immune system while reducing inflammation, such as decreasing nerve pain or numbness.

5. Eases Chronic Back Pain

The combination or improved circulation, posture, balance and flexibility helps loosen your joints and muscles effectively to relieve back tension, which is a common issue as we age. Certain Critical Alignment Therapy yoga poses specifically release tension while building core strength and flexibility in your spine to create better posture and alleviating chronic pain. This practice is commonly referred to as “Yoga for Backs”.

6. Increases Lung Capacity

Yoga promotes slow and controlled deep breathing through diaphragm and lungs. Upon inhalation, the diaphragm contracts and flattens, and the chest cavity enlarges. This opens up your chest and lung capacity, aids digestion and calms your mind. If you have asthma that is provoked by exercise, yoga is likely a great fit, since your heart rate stays relatively low.

7. Fosters Mental Wellness

Focusing on your breath while moving your body melts away tension and allows you to focus inward. Fight hormonal changes, anxiety and depression by staying active and connecting with others in a supportive environment. Experiencing something outside of your everyday routine can have a profound affect on your physical, psychological and emotional wellness. Yoga also increases your brain activity through mindful movement to improve short-term memory.

8. Reduces Stress & Increases Metabolism

By increasing oxygen to the brain, yoga exercise with deep concentration promotes a state of calmness, allowing you to let go of external stressors. By easing tension and releasing cortisol, the stress hormone, this reaches beyond your time spent on the yoga mat and affects many aspect of your life. While strengthening and sculpting your body, combined with calming your mind, you increase your metabolism which promotes weight loss.

9. Promotes Better Sleep Quality

Full body exercise is well known to release tension and improve sleep. Intentional, slow breathing fosters a sense of calmness and deep relaxation. Yoga is a fantastic combination of these two elements to help you fall into a peaceful slumber and reduce night wakefulness.

The expression “use it or lose it” is true. We need to keep our minds and bodies strong to enable healthy aging. Try a yoga class to start feeling the health benefits for yourself!