Why Doing Hot Yoga Regularly Is Best For Your Health

Hot Yoga is slowly picking up the trend since recent years. It is commonly confused with Bikram Yoga; however, Hot Yoga is different. The former is done in a room with a temperature of 41 degrees Celcius with 40 percent humidity with 26 poses and two two breathing exercises. This usually lasts for 90 minutes. While Hot Yoga is done in a room between 27 to 38 degrees Celcius, this includes a variety of poses, and the time will depend on the room’s availability and the instructor. Hot Yoga allows music on the background and interaction with other people in the class, and unlike Bikram, which observes total silence and is a serious practice. Both fall under the family of Yoga. It’s just so often being confused with each other.

 

At the end of every hot yoga session, one can feel the satisfaction after coming out of a hot yoga studio. The pores would feel as if it’s been fully wiped out clean, muscles would feel relaxed, and yoga leggings would be all soaked and wet from sweat.

 

People who use the infrared sauna claim that they feel much better or happier after a session due to the release of happy hormones such as Endorphines, Dopamine, Oxytocin, and Serotonin. There’s something about heat that affects a person physiologically. Hot Yoga, however, requires movements rather than simply just being inside a sauna. If given a choice, many prefer to do Hot Yoga, claiming that heat lets them do deeper stretches through yoga postures as compared to doing it in an ordinary yoga room. There is this sense of satisfaction, the moment you step out of the hot yoga studio, you’d feel as if you’ve worked hard from all the stretching and yet you survived it despite the hot temperature. There’s always a sense of fulfillment in that area. It’s like you’ve completed a difficult task.

 

Along with that, hot Yoga helps you reduce stress, improves your strength, and of course, flexibility. The ultimate goal of hot Yoga is to relax the mind and improve physical fitness.

 

Hot Yoga is all about doing the postures in a heated environment, hence making it more challenging. Still, it comes with several benefits, and it is worth it as it will make you feel fulfilled and look good in the progress. If practiced every day, it can help you reach your ideal body shape (as it helps improve posture), it can also be a source of mood booster for you. In Balance Wellness, we believe in the beauty of balance. With this, read on to know why you should do hot Yoga and what its benefits are.

 

 

 

• Flexibility improved

Stretching after warming up your muscles is safe and is encouraged rather than stretching cold muscles. A hot yoga studio can make you perform the poses smoothly and effectively.

 

• Good Bye Calories

In an hour, traditional Yoga helps you burn about 183 calories, and with heat, you would be able to burn even more calories. Men can burn up to 460 calories while women can burn up to 330 calories during a 90 minute Bikram yoga session as per the study done at Colorado State University.

 

• Stronger bones

Doing yoga poses can improve the strength of your bone and build density. This is extremely beneficial for premenopausal women, and older people as bone density decreases with aging.

Bone density can increase in the neck, hips, and lower back after over a five year period of daily Yoga, this is based on a 2014 study of women who participated in Bikram yoga. This is absolutely the same for Hot Yoga, and doctors believed that this is an effective option for women to reduce the risk of getting Osteoporosis. This is also why Yoga or Hot Yoga is picking up the trend.

 

• Stress reducer

Many seek refuge on Yoga to reduce or forget stress. A study was done in 2018, where a group of inactive adults went for a 16-week program of hot Yoga, and as expected, their stress levels decreased tremendously. Their quality of life has improved, and they became motivated to do a lot of things and are more active after the program. They now have control over their behavior and everything around them. They expressed that they found inner peace within themselves.

 

• Mood booster

Just like Yoga, Hot Yoga can help relax and improve your mood. This is also helpful when it comes to reducing the symptoms of depression. A review was done in 2017, where it focuses on Yoga as treatment, and it showed results that hot Yoga, in particular, is an effective way to reduce depression and its symptoms. It could be because of the happy hormones that hot Yoga can produce after every session to navigate the wheel around a better mood.

 

• Amp up your metabolism and respiration

In 2014, a study showed that a hot yoga session could pump the heart at a rate of 3.5 miles per hour. This is the same as speed walking.

 

• A helpful tool for type 2 diabetes

While exercises can help improve health, burn energy, and reduce sugar level in the bloodstream, hot Yoga is especially helpful for people at higher risk of having type 2 diabetes. This is also applicable to those who do have diabetes. The explanation behind this is that for type 2 diabetics, they have a very weak pancreas, which makes the process of sugar breakdown close to impossible. Hot Yoga can help you out in that area as it is a form of an energy burner, something that any healthy working pancreas can do.

 

• Sweat it out and gain beautiful skin

Hot Yoga can make you sweat till you drop. After a session, it would seem like you just got out of the shower, but the only difference is you are all soaked and wet with sweat. Hot Yoga can leave you drenched with sweat, but it’s worth it, as sweat can help improve your skin. It is a form of nourishment as it improves circulation, brings in oxygen, and nutrient-rich blood to skin cells. This is since pores are more open now after a good hot stretch. Top that off with a good shower, and you would feel very much relaxed and fulfilled.

 

All in all, hot Yoga is good for your mind and body. It can help you look and feel good, plus it strengthens your bones and improve flexibility. So the answer is, Hot Yoga is good for the body, but in terms of necessarily doing it every day, that would depend on how well you know your body. InBalance Wellness, we always remember that too much of anything is not good, and it’s still good to start small if you are a first-timer. If you are diagnosed with a certain illness, do consult your assigned doctor before going for Hot Yoga.

 

Getting professional advice is always the best way to go. Ultimately our sanity today is essential. With Hot Yoga, you can stay grounded and focus on the present while reaping the health benefits that come with it, including your mental health.