The days when yoga was considered a hippy trend only practiced by a few people in America are over. According to studies, there are over 20 million yogis in the United States alone.
The physical benefits of any exercise are widely known. But there are many mental benefits of yoga that you might not know about.
If you find yourself getting down throughout the day, yoga can be a great way of staying positive. Studies have shown that yoga does some amazing things for your mind.
Do you want to find out more about the 7 mental benefits of yoga? Check out the following!
1. Relaxed Mind
If you’ve tried yoga before you have probably experienced a relaxed mind after.
This is because the practice of yoga activates the “parasympathetic nervous system” in your body. This complicated word is pretty simple really.
You know the instinct that means either “fight or flight”? It’s the opposite of this instinct. It’s the one that tells your body to calm down and relax.
By activating your parasympathetic nervous system, yoga ensures that your blood pressure remains low. It also improves your digestion system.
2. Makes You Clever
You might be surprised to learn that doing yoga actually makes you clever. Well, kind of anyway.
Actually, yoga improves the connections between the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and your brain. This has been linked with improved memory capacity and cognitive awareness. You’ll also be able to process information at a quicker rate.
Plus, if you have low levels of GABA you are more prone to depression and anxiety too.
So clever and happy. You can’t say every exercise does that for you.
3. Happy and Stress-Free
When you do yoga your brain rewards you with a bunch of chemicals to your brain. This means you’ll have an increase in dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.
You won’t feel as stressed, you’ll feel happier and you’ll have more energy to do what you want to do. Maybe that’s more yoga?
That’s why if you struggle with mental health problems, yoga is highly recommended for overcoming your mental illness.
Not only does yoga boost your happy chemicals, it also reduces the amount of stress and anxiety causing chemicals. Most importantly, by reducing the levels of cortisol, you can relieve yourself of stress.
Find out more about ways to stay positive throughout the day.
4. Improves Resilience
Of course, yoga improves the overall strength of your body just like any exercise. This makes you less prone to injury and pain because you’re tougher and resilient.
Yoga positively affects the parietal lobe in the brain. This is the part of the brain that controls the movement of your arms and legs, manages pain and comprehends language.
However, yoga shares many positive qualities with mindfulness. According to research, mindfulness exercises can reduce sensitivity to pain.
5. Greater Awareness
Yoga also affects the parts of the brain that control anxiety and self-awareness. They are called the hippocampus and the somatosensory cortex respectively. Yoga acts as a moderating influence of these two vital parts of the brain.
By developing a greater awareness of yourself, you can also build up confidence and improve your ability to work through problems. Plus, you’ll be much more relaxed than before too.
6. Improved Concentration Levels
Yoga has also been shown to improve concentration levels. It’s easy to get distracted and down by the problems in our life.
Do you find your mind wandering off to think about the bills you need to pay? Or your relationship worries?
By trying out different yoga poses you can find the concentration levels to relieve your daily worries.
7. Overcome Sleeping Problems
Research suggests that mental health problems could become worse due to lack of regular sleep.
Of course, there are many other things you can do to combat sleeplessness. These include reducing your caffeine intake and taking sleeping pills.
But if you really want to overcome your sleeping problems, you’ll probably need to make lifestyle changes as well as quick fixes. Yoga can be a key part of living a life free of stress and anxiety.
8. Overcoming Trauma
Have you undergone a traumatic experience? This can a hugely difficult thing to overcome.
But yoga is a great way to discover your inner peace with yourself again. While there’s no easy to solution to overcoming trauma.
According to the award-winning yoga teacher, Colleen Saidman Yee argues that yoga has many mental benefits for people with troubled pasts.
9. Relieve Your Migraines
Are you one of the 1 in 7 Americans that suffer from migraines every year?
There is a growing body of evidence that shows how yoga can help reduce the frequency and intensity of your migraines.
This is because yoga has been found to stimulate the vagus nerve. This helps to relieve the stress of migraines.
10. Encourages a Healthy Diet
Everyone knows the emphasis on mindfulness in yoga. A similar approach to eating and food also encourages a healthy diet.
People who suffer from an eating disorder have been shown to improve eating habits as a result of yoga.
Compulsive eating and binge eating is associated with a lack of thinking about what you’re putting your body.
By introducing a more mindful approach to thinking about food, you could reduce your unhealthy eating habit. This could also help you lose weight.
Mental Benefits of Yoga
Even though many people focus on the physical benefits of yoga, it’s important to promote the mental benefits of yoga too.
By doing yoga during your day you can ensure positive thinking through your day no matter what happens.