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Heart Views : The Official Journal of the Gulf Heart Association logoLink to Heart Views : The Official Journal of the Gulf Heart Association
. 2024 Apr 12;25(1):54–55. doi: 10.4103/heartviews.heartviews_18_24

Yoga

Rachel Hajar 1,
PMCID: PMC11104540  PMID: 38774548

graphic file with name HV-25-54-g001.jpg

Yoga is an ancient tradition in India. Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices. It aims to control the mind.

Modern Yoga is practiced worldwide. Yoga was composed between the 5th and 6th centuries BC and has continued to evolve to the present day. The most popular is a posture-based physical fitness, stress-relief, and relaxation technique consisting largely of asanas.

There is much research into the benefits of Yoga as shown in the illustration. Yoga is considered a complementary form of therapy or alternative medicine. Yoga has become an integral part in the treatment of eating disorders and programs that promote positive body image and self-esteem.

Benefits of Yoga:

  • Helps improve strength, balance, and flexibility

  • Helps with back pain relief

  • You can ease arthritis symptoms

  • Benefits heart health

    • Practicing Yoga may help lower blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood glucose level, and heart rate making it a useful lifestyle intervention. One study has shown that blood measurements and waist circumference – a marker for heart disease – improved in middle-aged adults with metabolic syndrome who practiced Yoga for 3 months. Another study has shown that slow-paced Yoga classes ×2 a week reduced the frequency of atrial fibrillation episodes in patients with that condition

    • In another report, patients with heart failure who went through an 8-week Yoga program showed improvement in exercise capacity and quality of life. They also had lower blood levels for markers for inflammation, which contributes to heart disease.

  • Yoga relaxes you, to help you sleep better

  • Yoga can mean more energy and a brighter mood

  • Yoga helps manage stress.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.


Articles from Heart Views : The Official Journal of the Gulf Heart Association are provided here courtesy of Wolters Kluwer -- Medknow Publications

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