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Yoga practice is not only beneficial for women’s health, but it helps everyone who follows a proper routine. Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices that help properly function the human body1.
Yoga has various health benefits, and consistent yoga practice is useful for maintaining a healthy lifestyle2. It is also very easy to get a good yoga teacher in the present dynamic times. Let’s learn about the benefits of yoga for women.
Yoga has its roots in ancient India, but its popularity has increased worldwide in contemporary times. Regular yoga practice has various mental benefits and helps prevent diseases like heart disease, breast cancer, cardiovascular risk factors, high blood pressure, and others.
It also strengthens our sympathetic nervous system3 as well as the parasympathetic nervous system.
It also helps in weight loss and stress management and takes care of our immune system. Practising yoga regularly will not cause weight gain but will help build the required muscular strength.
Yoga also helps in managing the symptoms of arthritis4 and it increases the flexibility and strength of the body making it more effective to work.
There are various benefits of yoga for women. Any yoga journal will list hundreds of benefits of yoga for women. They also depict the pictorial representation of multiple asanas or yoga poses. This makes it easy for the reader to understand.
1. 8 Best Benefits of Yoga for Women
1.1. Yoga Helps in Managing or Reducing Stress:
In the present times of hustle culture, women face a lot of Stress. Not only in their workplace but also in their homes, women have a lot of roles to play, and the expectations from them are also very high and, in many cases, irrational. In such a case, many women have stress and suffer from various mental health issues.
This is where yoga comes in. One of the benefits of yoga for women is that it helps in stress management. It is also said that regular yoga practice might also help in reducing or managing the symptoms of depression or anxiety.
Meditation techniques and deep breathing exercises have a relaxation response and calm the human mind. Thus, people who do these exercises feel satisfied, are at peace and can handle situations without panicking.
Although it might be a little difficult to get immediate results from meditation, continuous practice will bring out various benefits of yoga for women5.
1.2. Yoga Helps in Weight Loss:
Other benefits of yoga include weight loss. Most women want to lose weight, and yoga helps with that. Thus, by reducing weight, yoga helps boost the self-esteem of various women.
Along with a proper diet and a good lifestyle, yoga is the key to losing weight and being healthy. Increased weight comes with a lot of problems that might affect our organs badly, and that is why it is important to maintain our body weight6.
There are various poses that a woman can try to lose weight. Getting used to these poses and postures might seem a little difficult, but one must be consistent and dedicated.
Some common yoga asanas or poses for reducing weight are the Chaturanga Dandasana, Virabhadrasana, Trikonasana, Sarvangasana, Parivrtta Utkatasana, and many others.
Women can also join yoga classes to learn all these poses quickly and to get the results quickly.
1.3. Yoga Practice Helps During Pregnancy:
The period of pregnancy can be quite uncomfortable for many women. A surprising benefit of yoga for women can be its ability to help with pregnancy and labor and its aftereffects.
If someone is pregnant and wants to relax and stay fit, prenatal yoga is the best option for them. It has various benefits and helps the baby’s proper growth inside the womb. It helps in reducing stress and improves the sleep cycle of the mother. Prenatal yoga helps relieve pelvic pain7, shortness of breath, and nausea.
It helps prepare the muscles of the body and other parts of it for the time of childbirth. During childbirth, women need to be much more flexible and stronger, and yoga helps prepare the body for that time.
Special yoga classes are organized where pregnant women come with their partners and do yoga together. This helps in building understanding between spouses. But before joining a yoga class or even before starting yoga during pregnancy, you must consult your doctor regarding the same and act on their advice.
1.4. Yoga Helps with the Symptoms of Menopause:
After a certain age, women start experiencing the symptoms of menopause 8which indicates that they will not have periods anymore. Managing these symptoms can be a little overwhelming and difficult.
The symptoms may include anxiety, upset stomach, mood swings, and trouble sleeping. Again, various yoga poses are fruitful. Yoga helps to manage these symptoms.
Some of the most important poses that help in this case are the Reclining Hero pose, Shoulder stand, Downward-facing dog, and many others.
Following a proper and continuous regime of these yoga poses will eventually help manage the symptoms and make you feel better in your body and mind. It will also help manage your emotional health during this time and keep the mind and the soul calm and composed.
1.5. Yoga Practice Helps in Maintaining Good Health of Your Heart:
Developing heart diseases have become very common in the present times. It might be due to a sedentary lifestyle or excessive stress, but people are developing heart diseases of various types at a faster rate.
But doing yoga helps us take care of our heart’s health. Yoga benefits the heart in many ways; it reduces blood pressure levels, increases heart rate, boosts or eases blood circulation, maintains blood sugar levels, and keeps our heart functioning.
It helps properly function the cardiovascular system, and if practised regularly, it also helps reach lower blood pressure. This is another benefit of yoga for women.
Yoga postures for taking care of the heart are Tadasana, Utkatasana, Marjariasana, Dhanurasana, Setu Bandhasana, Dandasana, and Shavasana. Consistent yoga practice helps in reducing heart disease, and it prevents any occurrence of a heart attack.
This way, yoga takes care of our heart health. Doctors advise patients with heart diseases to follow a proper yoga routine and a healthy diet.
1.6. Yoga Practice Helps in Reducing Back Pain:
Most women experience chronic pain, which might be caused due to various reasons like age, childbirth, hormonal imbalances, or any other reason. Yoga helps act as a medicine and reduces back pain to a great extent. In many cases, yoga along with a good and healthy diet has completely cured back pain.
Yoga improves the functioning of our muscles and makes them stronger. Similarly, it also helps strengthen the bones, and due to these reasons, a reduction in persistent back pain can be noticed. Many yoga postures help in back pain relief.
Initially, holding on to the same posture or doing the yoga poses might be a little difficult, but people get used to it after some time. Yoga will not only make our muscles stronger but also help in increasing the flexibility of the muscles.
Yoga improves the blood flow to the muscles. It also enhances the strength of our bones and takes care of our bone health.
Some common yoga postures that help reduce chronic pain are Downward-facing dog, Cat cow, extended triangle, standing forward bend, sphinx pose, upward-facing dog, and many others. It might take a little time to get used to these poses and postures, but after some time, people get used to them as they are very fruitful and beneficial.
1.7. Yoga Helps Women Undergoing the Treatment of Breast Cancer:
Breast cancer is a type of cancer that develops in the breasts of women in the form of lumps etc. It can be very dangerous, but modern medical and scientific research has found its cure in chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, and hormone therapy.
Dealing with such a form of cancer can be very discomforting and difficult. Yoga proves to be helpful in various ways. One of the benefits of yoga is that it helps women who are undergoing treatment or are in a recovery stage.
Various yoga instructors and scientific studies have shown that yoga reduces fatigue and improves the patient’s sleep cycle.
After a consistent practice of yoga, patients experience a better lifestyle. Yoga helps in the better functioning of their skeletal and muscular system. Yoga exercises like hatha yoga are especially helpful as they help rejuvenate the patient’s energy.
Meditation, another form of yoga, helps care for the patient’s mental health. Hence, this way, it manages any symptoms of depression, panic, or anxiety whatsoever.
In the case of a breast cancer patient, it would be best to get help from a professional and qualified yoga instructor. But if that is not possible, self-practice will also bring promising results. And in just a few days, the patient will start noticing the physical benefits of this dedicated routine.
Some of the poses to help women while they are dealing with breast cancer are, Balasana, Dirga Pranayama, Uttanasana, and Savasana.
One thing that has to be kept in mind while doing yoga in a delicate condition is that the patient needs to be extra careful while performing and holding poses and postures. This will help prevent any possible sprain, strain, or fracture.
Meditating early morning or evening will keep the mind and the soul calm and composed.
1.8. Yoga Helps Diabetic Women:
Women might have diabetes, but with the onset of pregnancy, they develop an increased risk of gestational diabetes9. Gestational diabetes also affects the amount of sugar in the blood, thus affecting the blood sugar level. Due to this condition, the mother and the baby have a high risk of health problems.
Scientific evidence shows that yoga helps maintain blood sugar levels, so gynaecologists and doctors advise pregnant women to do yoga regularly. Most women get free of this form of diabetes after the baby’s delivery. Usually, gestational diabetes can be managed with the help of a physical exercise program and a good or healthy diet.
Still, in some cases, doctors also prescribe some medicines to keep blood sugar levels controlled.
Many yoga poses or asanas will help reduce glucose levels in the blood. Some of the most common ones are Viparita Karani (which is very important as it helps stimulate the internal organs.), halasana, bhujangasana, dhanurasna, and many others. Lowering the glucose level in the blood is one of the greatest benefits of yoga.
While doing all these asanas or postures, it is advised to take extra precautions. Do not put pressure on your body; otherwise, there might be a possibility of having a sprain. It would be better to take the help of a yoga instructor or any other person who is attentive and careful.
2. Conclusion
There are various benefits of yoga for women. It makes the health care of women very effective and easy. Regular practice of yoga will keep us both physically and mentally fit, and not only this, but yoga also increases our body confidence and self-esteem.
After following a regular yoga routine, one can realize and feel the positive changes in their body. Yoga keeps our minds calm and at peace. We feel more positive and hence we are able to go with our daily lives very peacefully and effectively.
Its results have been very pleasing and have stood the test of time, which is why it has received universal recognition. The fact that the entire world celebrates Yoga Day on the 21st of June each year shows its mass popularity. If you haven’t made your yoga routine till now, this is the cue.
3. Frequently Asked Questions
3.1. What Does Yoga Do to a Female Body?
Yoga has long been known as a beneficial way to improve flexibility, balance and strength. However, an increasing number are choosing yoga’s combination of breathing, postures and meditation to balance the body, mind and spirit.
3.2. How Many Times a Week Should a Woman Do Yoga?
Between two and five times a week.
3.3. Can You Lose Weight Doing Yoga?
Yoga can also help you burn calories, as well as increase your muscle mass and tone.
3.4. What Happens if You Do Yoga Everyday?
Daily yoga practice has many great benefits! It helps keep us grounded, centred, balanced, flexible, strong, calm, clear-headed, focused, relaxed, happy, healthy, and free from stress and anxiety.
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Last Updated on by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology
Author
Yoga is indeed very helpful with infinite benifits. But I never knew that it can be helpful in breast cancer too. It was something totally new for me. This article is a must read for women who ignore their health and do not focus on themselves.
Yoga indeed has a lot of benefits and I have been thinking about doing it since so long. I will definitely start it soon and also achieve a healthy amd fit body with fresh mind.