3 Benefits of Yoga for The Health of seniors

Getting older is a law of nature and we need to embrace the change. Yoga for Senior Citizens is an initiative to help old people get better health- both Mental and Physical.

Practice of yoga provides many health benefits to seniors from its combination of yoga asanas (postures), pranayama (deep breathing) and meditative qualities. If you are vulnerable to fall and use a medical alarm to help you take care of yourself, yoga practice can make you more stable, flexible and balanced. It will increase strength of your arms and legs and help you balance by yourself.

3 Benefits of Yoga for The Heath of Seniors

1. Improves Sleeping Habits

As you age you may notice normal changes in your sleeping patterns. Either you wake up too early or feel asleep too early or you don’t enjoy deep and undisturbed sleep as you did when you were young. Disturbed sleep, waking up tired everyday and other symptoms of insomnia are not a normal part of aging. You became       old doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy sleeping. Many older adults have trouble falling asleep and sleep less than 7-9 hours, which is generally recommended by doctors.

A study conducted compared yoga to herbal sleep remedy found that yoga was more effective in improving sleep duration and decreased the time required to fall asleep after lying in bed. Yoga asanas along with deep breathing leads to relaxation and may be the reason for improved sleep.

2. Reduces probability of depression

Yoga helps combat depression, anxiety and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). The physical asanas lead to increase in flexibility while pranayama and meditation are responsible to reduce depression and anxiety. Deep breathing and meditative techniques calms a person down and increase focus and help to develop greater awareness and thus result in higher Quality of Life (QOL).

Yoga practice helps to decrease the levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone, that influences serotonin- the neurotransmitter that is often associated with depression.

It is not entirely clear how yoga helps to reduce anxiety and its symptoms. However, it emphasizes on being present in every moment and finding the sense of inner peace, which could help treat anxiety.

3. Alleviates aches and pains

Joint pain and muscle pain is a common complain among seniors. Yoga is known to provide remedy to this chronic pain. A study conducted by Harbor-UCLA Medical Center has revealed with evidence that patients practicing yoga needed less medication than the patients not practicing yoga.

Also yoga increases flexibility and range of motion, which helps in movements of joints that leads to reduced risk of spasm or muscle pull. Yoga also increases bone density, which decreases the probability of bone fractures in seniors.

Experts claim that regular exercise reduce the risk of death by one third and brings about 40% reductions in risk of chronic diseases.

Aditi is a certified Yoga Instructor for Power Yoga from Akshar Power Yoga. She teaches Hatha yoga, Power Yoga, Meditative Yoga and Yoga Therapy. She has experience in teaching and practicing yoga for about 4 years.