What are the health benefits of Yoga for Women?
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Welcome to our post “What are the Health benefits of Yoga for women?”
There are some differences with benefits of Yoga for Women than for men. In the main it’s quite similar but the main differences are really involving pregnant or menopausal women. As you will read later, hormonal changes in women during these eras will greatly affect a women’s mood and physical well-being. Yoga can help during these stressful periods and of course at all other times during a women’s life.
Here are our top 10 health benefits of Yoga for Women.
1. It’s A Great help for Menopausal women
The Menopause is a normal condition that all women go through as they age. The term “Menopause” can describe any number of changes that a women goes through either just before or after she stops menstruating, marking the end of her reproductive period. Usually from 45-50 years of age. During the menopause a woman can experience many different symptoms including the “hot flashes”, which is a sudden spread of warmth throughout the body, often leading to sweating or blushing. The severity can range from mild to severe and is all due to decreased hormone of estrogen. The loss of estrogen linked with menopause has been tied to a number of health problems that become more common as women age, including osteoporosis, Heart Disease & Bladder or Bowel problems.
There are many Yoga poses that can help with the Menopause. There are certain poses that can alleviate the “hot flashes” and many of the other Menopause symptoms that blight Menopausal women. Supported back-ends & supported reclining poses are just two poses that can help. We discuss this more in another post all about Menopausal women and Yoga.
2. Can Help With An Easier Pregnancy
Yoga can help women get through their pregnancy with minimal discomfort. It also helps the birth and post-delivery stages.
Independent midwife Manijeh Nedas says: ‘In my experience, I believe that yoga plays a very important role in pregnancy. Generally, pregnant moms who do yoga exercises appear healthier, both in mind and body. Their bodies are more flexible, which enables them to adapt to various positions when in labour and the ligaments are more elastic, which in turn can help to reduce labour pain.’
We have written an article all about Yoga and Pregnancy here
3. Can Help Reduce Menstruation Symptoms
Women of reproductive age can experience monthly fluctuations in emotional and physical symptoms that are associated with the cyclical rhythm of their menstrual cycle.
The majority of women experience some negative emotional, physical, or relational symptoms in the days prior to menses, with symptoms ranging on a continuum from mild to severe and debilitating. Emotional symptoms include moodability and irritability, while physical symptoms include fatigue, bloatedness, and breast tenderness. Exercises for women such as a regular yoga practice can address these symptoms by helping to calm the central nervous system through stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system (relaxation response), which facilitates decreased stress and tension in the body and cultivates deep relaxation. Further, the practice of asanas with an emphasis on linking breath with movement can work to increase the flow of oxygenated blood to the reproductive organs and tissues, working to alleviate discomfort associated with cramps, and increase circulation in the body to minimize the storage of fluids that causes bloating.
4. Creates Better Sleep
Insomnia now affects nearly 50% of women at some stage of their life. During pregnancy and during the Menopause, Insomnia can be severe and lead to all sorts of health issues including Depression, Heart Problems and Anxiety. Not only will a Women feel more fatigued because of the added exercise including poses, but she will also have been taught how to carry out the deep breathing exercises that help to beat Insomnia. The whole Yoga process will greatly improve your Insomnia, maybe even cure it. For menopausal women, there is a great article about Insomnia here called Menopause Insomnia How Long Does It Last?
5. Improved Flexibility
Yoga improves your flexibility
Improved flexibility is one of the first and most obvious benefits of yoga. During your first class, you probably won’t be able to touch your toes, never mind do a back bend. But if you stick with it, you’ll notice a gradual loosening, and eventually, seemingly impossible poses will become possible. You’ll also probably notice that aches and pains start to disappear. That’s no coincidence. Tight hips can strain the knee-joint due to improper alignment of the thigh and shin bones.
6. Improved Strength
Strong muscles do more than look good. They also protect us from conditions like arthritis and back pain, and help prevent falls in elderly people. And when you build strength through yoga, you balance it with flexibility. If you just went to the gym and lifted weights, you might build strength at the expense of flexibility.
7. Improves Your Posture
Yoga greatly improves your posture, particularly if you are a sloucher. Studies have revealed that people consider a slouched posture to be sign of weakness. It’s obviously not true in most cases, but it’s something that you should change if you can. Yoga helps you achieve this by using the many poses and postures to help support the head, neck and shoulders, creating more flexibility and strength in those muscles and joints.
8. Slows down the effects of Osteoporosis
Yoga is fantastic for building up strength in a women’s weight-bearing bones. Many postures require that you life your own weight which increases your bone density and decreases or improves Osteoporosis. Plus, Yoga’s ability to lower the stress hormone Cortisol, increases your body’s ability to keep calcium in the bones.
9. Increases blood flow
Yoga definitely gets your blood flowing. Whether you go for the major workout of a “Hot Yoga” session or the more serene Hathra Yoga session, it all creates additional blood supply.
Yoga also boosts levels of hemoglobin and red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the tissues. And it thins the blood by making platelets less sticky and by cutting the level of clot-promoting proteins in the blood. This can lead to a decrease in heart attacks and strokes since blood clots are often the cause of these killers.
The added benefit of Yoga is that it will help lower your blood pressure and improve cardiovascular conditioning.
10. Improved sex life
Not only will your newly found flexibility impress your partner, but you will feel happier and less stressful once you start your Yoga sessions. This leads to a happier and more satisfactory sex life. Yoga is a great way to improve the Pelvic Floor Muscle, so when a woman flexes her pelvic floor muscles, it gives her male partner a little squeeze that can increase sexual sensations for both.
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