Someone dies every 37 seconds as a result of heart disease.
High blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes are serious problems that all stem from the same place. Yoga is a practice that anyone can do, and it has the benefit of helping you build a healthier heart.
So how does yoga help your cardiovascular health? Keep reading to see why practicing yoga is incredible for your heart and your health as a whole.
How Practicing Yoga is a Heart-Centered Art
If you’ve never done yoga before, now is a great time to start. Practicing yoga each and every day is one of the best tips for heart health that you can follow.
Here are a few benefits you will enjoy:
1. It Improves Your Bloodflow and Circulation
Many people have poor blood circulation. These blood circulation problems compound due to the sedentary lifestyle that most of us live.
If you spend 40-plus hours in an office sitting in a chair, you don’t have the best blood circulation. When you practice yoga, you build healthier blood vessels and arteries.
This lets your blood circulate properly, which is positive for every part of your health. Yoga trains you to become more flexible and hold poses that you otherwise would find difficult.
It works out stiffness and blockages in your body that prevent you from experience peak heart health. Good blood circulation builds overall bodily longevity so that you can stay healthy and strong.
2. Your Cardiovascular Endurance Improves
When you’re trying to get into shape you will likely start with your cardio. People associate cardio with things like running and hiking, but yoga provides an amazing cardio workout.
Building your cardiovascular endurance makes you more durable and less likely to get winded and tired. You will especially want to practice yoga and build your cardio if you get tired when walking and climbing stairs.
This cardiovascular endurance will carry over into other parts of your health and will improve your quality of life as a whole.
3. It Helps You Deal With Stress
Think about the last time you were stressed out. You probably started sweating, your hands became clammy and your heart rate sped up.
Practice yoga improves your resting heart rate and lets you sweat the stress out of your body. It pumps positive endorphins throughout your body so that you feel great and can remain calm in your daily life.
More than 70% of people experience chronic stress due to money problems. While you can’t always change your money problems overnight, you can practice yoga every day to work the stress out of your body and mind.
4. The Bloodflow Improvement Eases Inflammation and Pain
More than 20% of people have some sort of chronic pain.
Your pain might come about in the form of stiffness in the joints, sore muscles, lower back pain, or arthritis. Yoga helps you out by circulating blood, which improves your body’s anti-inflammation process.
When your body is less inflamed you will feel more comfortable in your skin. It helps you go about your work and personal life without being too sore or in pain to enjoy yourself.
What’s more, you can experience this pain-relief without having to take over the counter painkillers or prescription drugs. These drugs can take a toll over your body over time, so using yoga as a natural remedy is a no-brainer.
5. Yoga Exemplifies the Brain-Heart Connection
Did you know that your brain and heart are connected?
Harvard’s Dr. Walter B. Cannon expounded on this connection in the 1940s, and much research has been done since. When you work your heart, you also improve the blood vessels in your brain.
As a result, you will experience clearer thinking and can even ward off cognitive issues like dementia and Alzheimer’s. People that practice yoga regularly are less likely to have brain fog and can become more productive and less depressed.
6. Practicing Yoga Can Help You Quit Smoking
Yoga is helpful at beating addictions. This is why so many drug addiction recovery centers offer yoga classes.
Tobacco smoke is one of the biggest contributors to heart disease and stroke, so cutting this habit can buy more great years out of your life. If you’re a smoker that has trouble putting the cancer sticks down, yoga can be just the treatment that you need.
7. You Will Experience Libido Benefits
Plenty of people experience some form of sexual dissatisfaction or deficiency. Whether you have low libido or impotence, yoga can improve your sexual life.
For one, it builds a stronger heart, which gives you better blood flow to your genitals. You’ll see improvements in your sexual relationships, which have self-esteem and confidence benefits.
8. Yoga Strengthens the Heart as a Muscle
Finally, yoga simply strengthens your heart on a physical level. The heart is a muscle, and you build that muscle more with each and every yoga session.
These heart health benefits continue to compound over several years. Yoga is a gentle practice that you can practice well into your old age, which bodes well for your heart health.
Add Yoga to Your Life as a Daily Practice
Practicing yoga will flat-out change your life. Learning from some yoga experts will help you experience all of the heart health benefits above and then some.
Use these tips and start building your yoga practice day by day. Let us be your guide whenever you want to learn more about health and fitness, travel and so much more.
