The aim of the yoga is to build strength, awareness and harmony in both the mind and body. “The yoga asanas can lessen chronic pain, such as lower back pain, arthritis, headaches and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Science has provided some strong answers about how yoga works to improve health, heal aches and pains and keep sickness away.

Benefits of Yoga

Following are the benefits of Yoga:

Improves your Flexibility

Yoga gradually makes you flexible. At first, you won’t be able to touch your toes but gradually you will start touching your toes. If you stick with yoga, you will notice a gradual loosening and eventually impossible becomes possible. Your pain starts to disappear. 

Building muscle strength

When you build strength through yoga, you balance it with flexibility. It also protects us from conditions like arthritis and back pain.

Perfects your posture

Poor posture can cause back, neck, and other muscle and joint problems. Your head is balanced directly over an erect spine. If you move it several inches forward from the spine, you will start to strain those muscles. As you slump, your body may compensate by flattening the normal inward curves in your neck and lower back.

Prevents cartilage and joint Breakdown

When you practice yoga, you take your joints through their full range of motion. This can help prevent degenerative arthritis or mitigate disability by “squeezing and soaking” areas of cartilage that normally are not used.

Protects your Spine

Practice backbends forward bend, and twists to keep your disk supple.

Betters your bone health

Postures of yoga-like downward and upward facing dog, help strengthen the arm bones. It is very well known that weight-bearing exercise strengthens bones and helps ward off osteoporosis. There are many postures in yoga that require to lift your own weight.

Increases your blood flow

The relaxation exercises in yoga increase blood circulation, especially in your hands and feet. Yoga also helps to get more oxygen to the cells. Some poses called twisting poses are thought to wring out poisoned blood from internal organs and allow oxygenated blood to flow in once the twist is released. 

Lowers Blood Sugar

Yoga lowers cortisol and adrenaline levels, encouraging weight loss, and improving sensitivity to the effects of insulin.

Helps you focus

Studies have found that yoga practice improves coordination, reaction time, memory and even IQ scores.

Drains your lymphs and boosts immunity

When you come in and out of yoga postures, contract and stretch muscles, move organs around. It helps the lymphatic system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells, and dispose of the toxic waste products of cellular functioning. 

Ups your heart rate

If you do Ashtanga yoga, it can boost your heart rate into the aerobic range. Yoga also improves your cardiovascular conditioning. Studies have found that doing yoga lowers the resting heart rate, increases endurance, and can improve your maximum uptake of oxygen during yoga.

Drops your blood pressure

Savasana improves your blood pressure. In a study, it was found that savasana was associated with a 26-point drop in systolic blood pressure and a 15- point drop in diastolic blood pressure.

Regulates your adrenal glands

Adrenal glands secrete cortisol which temporarily boosts immune function. But if your cortisol levels stay high even after the crisis, they can compromise the immune system. Excessive cortisol has been linked with major depression, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance. Yoga helps in lowering the cortisol levels. 

Makes you Happier

In studies, it was found that practising yoga improves depression and led to a significant increase in serotonin levels and a decrease in the levels of monoamine oxidase and cortisol. In research, it was found that the left prefrontal cortex showed heightened activity in mediators which is related to the greater levels of happiness and better immune function. 

Founds a healthy lifestyle

Practising yoga daily burns calories and also encourages you to address any eating and weight problems on a deeper level. 

Lowers blood sugar

Yoga helps in boosting HDL and lowering LDL. In people with diabetes, yoga has been found to lower blood sugar in several ways such as:

• By lowering cortisol and adrenaline levels

• Encouraging weight loss

• Improving sensitivity to the effects of insulin

• Get your blood sugar levels down 

• Decrease risk of heart attack, kidney failure, and blindness

Prevents IBS and other digestive problems

Yoga can ease constipation and lowers the risk of colon cancer as moving the body facilitates more rapid transport of food and waste products through the bowels. 

Benefits your relationship

Daily yoga practise helps develop friendliness, compassion, and greater equanimity.

Gives you inner strength

The heat you develop while doing yoga can be extended to the rest of your life to overcome inertia and change dysfunctional habits. You may start to eat better, exercise more, or finally quit smoking.