Tag: Hot Yoga

Hot Yoga for Prevention of Dementia or Alzheimer’s

Dementia and Alzheimer’s are more than just memory loss. They are conditions that can erode a person’s quality of life, independence, and interpersonal relationships. Some medications can slow the process of Alzheimer’s, but once it sets in, it is not reversible. Some forms of dementia can be temporary due to vitamin deficiency or vascular conditions, but most dementia is also irreversible.

Only 25% of these cases are genetic. The rest are preventable.

According to the Mayo Clinic and the International Journal of Clinical Practice, exercise has more impact on aging and Alzheimer’s disease than any other lifestyle factor. Exercising five days out of seven reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s by 35%. If two of those workouts involve strength training, it reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s by half once you are over 65. Don’t wait, though. Obesity in midlife makes you 3 times more likely to have Alzheimer’s.

Hot yoga is ideal for Alzheimer’s prevention because it combines strength with flexibility and stress reduction. Limberness improves balance and reduces risk of head injuries. Flexibility makes your body more resilient as you age and reduces your risk for overall injury, thereby insuring that you can keep up healthy exercise habits later in life.

Chronic stress quadruples the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Dr. Vincent Fortanesce of USC points out that the stress hormone cortisol stunts nerve cell growth and connection, accelerating cognitive decline, premature aging, depression, and diabetes. (Diabetes, by the way, makes you twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s). Yoga reduces stress, thereby reducing your cortisol production. It also helps your sleep patterns. Sleep deprivation, according to memory experts Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Gary Small, can really hurt your brain and central nervous system.

Other tips for Alzheimer’s prevention: eat a brain-healthy diet minimizing processed foods and refined starches, focusing instead on fruits and vegetables, antioxidants, Omega 3 fatty acids, and vitamins. Keep your brain active by learning new things, playing with puzzles and riddles. Avoid toxins like cigarettes, because smoking increases your risk by 79%. For more information, visit Helpguide or The Alzheimer’s Association.

Nikki M. Deasy
TriBalance Yoga Center

Maximizing Yoga’s Health Benefits In A Hot Yoga Sessions

Though Yoga (hot) has lately turn out to be popular in western cultures, it’s a practice which has been in existence for hundreds of years within India. Many individuals now grow to be students of Hot Yoga simply because of the amplified set of health benefits that outcomes from the distinction in heat.
Performed in a ‘hot room’, hot yoga gives students with a bunch of health benefits. Here are 5 techniques for learners to maximise health benefits obtained from Hot Yoga.

1. Set to it that you follow your class plan.
Attending hot yoga classes always is good, but it’ll not be consistent enough in your lifestyle to have a good impact. Try and attend a hot yoga class at least two times a week, so that your body becomes used to the heat and stretches being conducted on a regular basis.
2. Eat a sensible diet
With any healthly way of life and exercise programme, a well balanced diet is paramount. Your diet need to contain a lot of complex carbohydrates and proteins, allowing the body to refuel itself and repair torn muscle fibres. Having basic carbohydrates such as fruit is a fast way of gaining energy, just just before a class or just after (to regain energy quickly). Make certain your
fat intake is low and your fibre intake is high, allowing your food to be broken up and used far more efficiently.
3. Stretch out your muscles outside of the class
By allowing your body to become supple outside of the class in normal temperatures, you’ll be able to see bigger differences in your flexibility within the hot classes you attend. This will enable you to push beyond your boundaries, allowing your body to grow to be a lot more supple and muscles more stronger.
4. Try another sorts of yoga classes.
Ashtanga Yoga instructional classes or Hatha Yoga classes are other common varieties of Yoga, based on the health advantages that they promote. Mix up your weekly schedule by attending these other classes, as well as flow classes which need you to continue yoga movements in sequence, making the class far more challenging.
5. Don’t forget your 2 liters of drinking water per day.
Drinking a lot of water allows toxins to be flushed out of your system and more importantly for your body to be properly hydrated at all times. The slightest bit of dehydration can trigger you to underperform and not reach your full potential, so ensure you drink 2 litres of water per day, as well as taking a bottle of water to your hot yoga class.

Reducing Excessive Sweating With Yoga

Although sweating is a normal human function, excessive sweating occurs when the body is over-compensating for a certain problem. For this reason, it can be helpful to find ways of rebalancing your body’s systems. There is one form of exercise which aims to do just that. Yoga.

Yoga combines breathing and movement and is one of the oldest froms of exercise. The aim of yoga is to harmonise your body and correct any imbalances. So it’s possible that the regular practice of yoga could address the underlying cause of your symptoms – even if you don’t know what the cause is.

Although most yoga is a slow and gentle practice, is it still a valid form of exercise and as such, brings about the positive benefits that come from any physical activity. These include a more efficient metabolism, improved overall fitness and the release of endorphins. This all means that you feel good – physically, mentally and emotionally. Even after exercising you will feel the benefits of a healthier, more balanced body, which will be good for your self-esteem.

Like all exercise, yoga is also an effective stress-buster. But when it comes to hyperhidrosis, yoga has an additional advantage. Regular yoga practice is great at inducing inner calm and emotional stability. So for those who sweat when they are anxious or nervous, it can help you feel calmer in those situations. And when you do find yourself in a stressful situation, your reduced anxiety will mean you’re better able to handle it.

Although yoga can be a powerful exercise, it isn’t normally associated with the frantic and sweaty workout of more aerobic exercises like step, circuits or spinning. For this reason, yoga classes may appeal more to those who want to avoid public situations where they are likely to perspire heavily.

However, there are forms of yoga that are more vigorous and fast-paced. Ashtanga is one of these (and Madonna’s exercise of choice). There is also a type of yoga called Bikram yoga (or Hot Yoga) which is performed in heated rooms – so as to make you sweat more. But this could actually be a good thing for sufferers of excessive sweating. Firstly, everyone will be soaked through, so you needn’t feel self-conscious. Secondly, the body sweats to get rid of toxins. So getting hot and sweaty while you work out can speed can help this process. Then your body is under less pressure to ‘sweat out’ the toxins the rest of the time.

Yoga is far more than a series of random positions. The stretching, twisting, holding and breathing all have specific effects of different parts of your body. You can affect not just your muscles but your organs and immune system, too. It’s good at stimulating your digestive system as well. This is useful for sufferers of hyperhidrosis that is linked to weight issues, food intolerance or poor diet. Also, there are certain positions that help your body flush out toxins. This is helpful if your excessive sweating is a symptom of toxin-overload.

In short, yoga will improve your overall fitness, detoxify your system, boost your wellbeing and stabilise your anxiety. Since it addresses many of the health issues that lead to excessive sweating, yoga can be an effective route to not only reducing the symptoms, but also treating the cause.