Yoga Benefits for Health and Sleep

Yoga is a complete, holistic way of life whose benefits go well beyond the physical, and into the mental, emotional and spiritual domains.



While most forms of physical workouts promote only physical well-being, Yoga benefits the whole being.  Yoga’s system of poses (asanas) deep breathing exercises and relaxed movements help develop the entire body/mind/spirit. Practicing Yoga also helps the individual discover one’s true, hidden inner potential. Best of all Yoga can be practised by people of both sexes and of all ages. Older people often find that gentle yoga exercises help them to retain mobility, relieve problems like arthritis and poor circulation and sleep better.





Regular yoga practice can help in a number of health conditions. Most of the practices stimulate sluggish glands and step up hormonal secretions. Many asanas like the Shoulder Stand (Sarvangasana) and the Fish Pose (Matsyasana) are specifically good for the thyroid gland. Yoga also helps fat metabolism, as fat is converted into muscle and energy; meaning to say that, besides losing fat, the practitioner also enjoys better muscle tone and a higher vitality level.

Yoga practice helps reduce the effects of problems like obesity, backaches, insomnia and depression.



In fact, any and everyone can benefit by practising Yoga regularly; the practices help offset many of the problems encountered in modern life. In pregnancy, Yoga promotes better health of both mother and expected child. Yoga practices release the physical and tensions resulting from hours of sitting. Breathing exercises, in particular, lend vitality through the increased supply of oxygen to the brain, while meditation enhances the powers of concentration.

Best of all Yoga practices improves overall health, strength and flexibility physically and mentally through increased relaxation. Yoga helps you relax fully, thereby promoting sound sleep. Yoga practices also enhance one’s powers of digestion and stimulate circulation. Yoga is a beneficial addition to a medically prescribed treatment plan that can help to alleviate the mental and emotional symptoms of ill health faster.

This is how Yoga helps in insomnia and in promoting deep sleep. The Yoga breathing exercises help cleanse and nourish mind and body, through increased supply of oxygen. This vital element that is essential to every cell of the mind and body. During exhalation, toxins get expelled. As a result every nerve, sinew and fiber of the body and mind get oxygenated and relaxed. Over time, and not to long either, relaxation induces good sleep and helps cure insomnia resulting from stress syndromes and other psychosomatic disorders.

Another core component of Yoga is meditation. This practice helps alleviate symptoms of physical and mental disorders in 2 ways: by silencing the mind and getting rid of repeated negative messages, as well as through focus on positive thoughts and sensations. Subsequently, the practice of Yoga helps reduce anxiety and also results in reduced anxious eating. Further, Yoga breathing exercises increases the oxygen intake to the body cells, including the fat cells and causes increased oxidation or burning up of fat cells. Yogic exercises induce more continuous and deeper breathing which gradually burns, sometimes forcefully, many of the calories already ingested. So, you benefit overall, physically and mentally.