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What are the yoga benefits for men? There is a stereotypical perception that yoga is for women. The perception also gives men the idea that they should go to gyms and builds muscles. Because people don’t try to understand that yoga has nothing to do with men or women or any sexuality. Yoga is a fundamental exercise like martial arts, boxing and many others. There are many yoga benefits for men and women. Let us find out how yoga can benefit men to break the stereotypical ideas that have filled our minds for decades.
Enhanced Strength and Flexibility: yoga benefits for men
One of the essential components of physical health is flexibility. There are many yoga styles, varying in mild to moderate to high intensity. The mild intensity styles also increase enough flexibility.
Yoga makes us flexible and increases our strength. Balance and flexibility are core benefits of yoga. It strengthens our muscles as well. Yoga has many dynamic movements and stretches that make our bodies more flexible. If one believes yoga and meditation are the same, one makes mistakes. Yoga is neither gentle nor easy. The intensity and duration make it moderate intensity exercise, if not more. Regular practice of yoga can tone your body and lengthen your muscles.
Yoga is not only about stretching and flexibility. There are yoga and asanas that builds strength. This makes yoga asana a multimodal form of exercise.
Weight management: yoga benefits for men
Surya Namaskar (Saluting the sun) and other free hand exercises to start with can make you feel calorie-burning. Stretching, bending, breathing control, and different postures boost the body’s metabolic rate and help burn fat.
Prevention of Inflammation: yoga benefits for men
Regular practice of yoga stretches the muscles and helps to reduce joint pains. As yoga gives you strength and flexibility, it decreases any risk of injury. Chronic inflammation is generally the precursor to an illness. Prolonged inflammation causes heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, etc. Various styles of yoga with different intensities and durations can reduce the biochemical markers of inflammation across several chronic conditions.
Chronic Lower Back Pain: yoga benefits for men
During office hours, continuous sitting for hours can cause pain in the back and neck area. Yoga can help to get rid of such pains. The yoga practice strengthens back, shoulder and neck muscles and gives us the correct sitting posture, which ultimately helps reduce back pain.
Feel Alive: yoga benefits for men
Yoga makes you feel alive. In yoga, your age does not matter; what matters is that you practice regularly. Make it a routine, and you will feel full of vitality.
Stress Relief: yoga benefits for men
Yoga boosts our mental health. It helps us relieve stress and have a clear and calm mind. It helps to eliminate negativity around us and fills us with positive energy. Asana and yoga are excellent at reducing stress. Besides the physical practice of yoga meditation, deep breathing and chantings significantly lessen tension and relieve stress.
Mental Health Benefits of Yoga for Men
Many studies reveal that major depressive disorder is one of the most common mental health disorders. A study conducted by Jackson State University, Jackson, MS, the U.S.A. by Manoj Sharma, M.B.B.S., MCHES, PhD, School of Public Health, Jackson State University, 350 West Woodrow Wilson Avenue, Jackson, MS 39213, U.S.A., shows that yoga improves symptoms of depression. Most of the research was conducted in the United States, and various Hatha yoga schools were used for the analysis. Despite many limitations in the study, it can be concluded that yoga interventions effectively reduce depression and its symptoms. Both movement-based yoga therapies and breathing-based practices have been shown to significantly improve depressive symptoms.
Stronger Bones: yoga benefits for men
Yoga poses to increase your motion and mobility and boost bone health. Yoga postures are isometric contractions. It means the muscles holding the posture do not change even after being fully engaged.
Yoga asana improves the bone loss associated with an illness like osteopenia and osteoporosis. A study carried out by The Rockefeller University, New York, New York (Dr Lu); Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Dr Rosner); New York University, New York (Dr Chang); and Columbia University, New York, New York (Dr Fishman) shows that just Twelve-Minute Daily Yoga Regimen Reverses Osteoporotic Bone Loss.
Bone mineral density has improved in the spine, hips, and femur of the 227 moderately and fully compliant patients. The monthly gain in BMD was significant in the spine (0.0029 g/cm2, P = .005) and femur (0.00022 g/cm2, P = .053), but in 1 cohort, although the mean gain in hip BMD was 50%, significant individual differences raised the confidence interval and the improvement was not substantial for total hip (0.000357 g/cm2). No yoga-related serious injuries were imaged or reported. Bone quality appeared qualitatively improved in yoga practitioners.
Yoga reduces Anxiety: yoga benefits for men
Anxiety disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorders etc., can be effectively treated by yoga. Yoga could be used as an alternative anxiety disorder treatment. Savasana is yoga and meditation combined reduce anxiety symptoms.
Yoga boosts immunity: yoga benefits for men
If our immunity is compromised, we are more susceptible to different diseases. Practising yoga improves immune system functioning. Yoga helps us to fight inflammation and enhances cell-mediated immunity.
Yoga improves balance: yoga benefits for men
Yoga improves balance and reduces the risk of falls. Balance is crucial for all ages. It is found that after regular yoga and asanas, balance improved a lot more than before. Falls are common among older adults, and yoga can improve their balance. Yoga also improves balance in people with brain injuries.
Improved brain functioning: yoga benefits for men
Yoga is an exercise which affects both body and mind. Regular yoga activates brain areas responsible for attention, executive functioning, motivation etc.
Cardiovascular functioning: yoga benefits for men
Pranayama, or “yogic breathing,” is an important and beneficial aspect of yoga. The cardiovascular system benefited mightily from controlling the pace of breathing, as evidenced by favourable changes in heart rate, stroke capacity, arterial pressure, and contractility of the heart. Pranayama influence the brain’s cardiorespiratory centre to improve functioning.
Yoga helps to improve sleep
Yoga improves sleep quality/deep sleep and how quickly one can fall asleep. and how deeply one stays asleep. This is because of the after-effects of exercises and yoga’s mental relaxation and stress relief.
Yoga connects you with a supportive community.
Yoga classes can act as community or support groups. It creates an environment for group healing.
References
- Bridges, L., & Sharma, M. (2017). The efficacy of yoga as a form of treatment for depression. Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 22(4), 1017–1028. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156587217715927
- Lu, Y.-H., Rosner, B., Chang, G., & Fishman, L. M. (2016). Twelve-minute daily yoga regimen reverses osteoporotic bone loss. Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation, 32(2), 81–87. https://doi.org/10.1097/TGR.0000000000000085
- Yoga benefits for men. (n.d.). Utah.edu. Retrieved August 3, 2022, from https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/postings/2017/01/men_yoga.php