Introduction
Yoga is one of the physical activities that help maintain good physical and mental health. Yoga helps in maintaining flexibility and muscle core and reduces stress. It improves the quality of life in cases of chronic pain, stress, and chronic diseases. Long-term yoga enhances strength, flexibility, stability, memory, neuroplasticity, immunity, and lifespan. Regular practice of yoga helps lower stress and obesity, improves blood flow, and induces better sleep which improves the quality of life overall.
Live Longer or Live Better?
Aging in an individual starts in the mid-30s, affecting "physical and social activity," which increases stress levels, affecting the quality of life. Yoga helps maintain both physical and mental health enabling individuals to live a longer and better life.
What Are the Secrets of Longevity?
Longevity is not the goal of yoga. Long life with better physical and mental health is the ultimate goal of practicing yoga. Yoga also helps in enhancing mental wellness, as well as helps in the way one lives life. The secrets of yoga for the longevity of life are:
1) Proper Physical Labor:
In the current exacting world, everything around us has become mechanical. An individual's physical activity has reduced dramatically, and most people work seated for eight to nine hours a day without any strenuous activity. Additionally, the growth of technology has greatly impacted people's physical and mental health. Lack of physical activity leads to many health problems, and incorporating certain exercises in the daily routine helps in improving overall health status. Simple activities like running, walking, cycling, gym, yoga, or sports help improve physical health as well as help in improving mental health.
2) Going to Bed When You Feel Sleepy:
In the contemporary world, the sleep cycle has changed to accommodate our activities and work schedules. Changes in the sleep cycle cause disruption in the hormonal balance. Yoga recommends staying awake during the day and sleeping at night, as staying awake at night for a long period may be the root cause of many diseases, including a decrease in a person's lifespan. The wake/sleep cycle should be regularized and should be maintained properly.
3) Eating When One Feels Hungry:
Eating has become a habit or daily routine rather than maintaining a proper healthy diet. People eat at any time of the day even though they do not feel hungry. Various emotional conditions trigger eating, such as stress, loneliness, and frustration, and suppress various emotional feelings. Eating should be an act of receiving energy and prana from the food. It should be the act of nourishing one's body. Overeating for various reasons leads to indigestion, acidity, or constipation, which may be the underlying cause of other major diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. Yoga advises eating when one feels hungry to improve health and appetite and avoid eating when not hungry. A person should avoid eating in bits and pieces and should rather have a complete meal.
4) Fasting:
Fasting is one such activity that does wonders for health. The digestive system works unceasingly even in sleep, slowing down as one's not eating or drinking. Regular fasting helps the body detox the system. In yoga, individuals are advised to fast for 36 hours without food and water, helping detox and allowing the digestive system to rest.
5) Lavation Before Sleep:
Lavation before sleep helps not only to have a sound sleep but helps cool the temperature of some body parts like forearms, feet, face, and neck. Washing is done using water below the body temperature, providing undisturbed, restful deep sleep.
6) Meditation:
Regular meditation has a higher healing effect on both physical and mental health. It helps maintain homeostasis (proper body functions like normal body temperature, blood sugar, fluid level, etc.). It should be maintained at any cost, regardless of the changes that occur in the outside world. An imbalance in these functions for a prolonged period gives rise to diseases. Meditation helps to re-establish the homeostasis of the body.
Stress and anxiety are the reason for various diseases, whereas meditation helps in mental relaxation reducing stress levels. This relaxation response activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which reverses the fight and flight response, whereas rest and repair functions take over without any inhibitors. Regular meditation helps maintain good physical and mental health, improving the quality and length of our lives.
7) Asana Practice:
Asanas are called innercises, as they hugely affect the inner body, more importantly, the chakras rather than the muscles and joints. Asana is a Sanskrit word that means "a posture producing physical comfort and mental composure." Asanas impact physical and mental health immensely, as staying in a particular asana for a specific amount of time helps to improve muscles, glands, hormones, and all other functions of the organ of the body. Regular practice of asanas for a long time has a very good effect on mental health as it places pressure on the endocrine gland, which helps regulate hormonal secretion. The hormonal level is closely related to a person's emotional balance, and optimal hormone functioning results in better emotional health in an individual.
8) Flexibility:
Yoga involves many postures that need to be maintained for a certain amount of time to get its full benefit. One may find it tough to get the posture and maintain it for a long time, but through practice, it becomes easy, increasing the body's flexibility and strength.
The long-term yoga practice helps muscle toning, making the person strong and flexible.
9) Weight Loss:
Yoga helps in a healthy weight loss process, including dietary and lifestyle changes with more physical activity. People of any age and size can do yoga. Yoga helps people control their eating habits, reducing overeating and promoting healthy eating. Asanas increase the body's metabolic activity, which helps maintain the body's balance.
How Does Yoga Help in Increasing Life Span?
Yoga helps in increasing the lifespan of a person by
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Preventing cartilage and joint breakdown.
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Increasing blood flow.
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Increasing bone density.
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Cleaning the lymph nodes.
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Regulating the adrenal gland.
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Lowering blood sugar.
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Encouraging self-care and health style.
Conclusion
Yoga is known to be one of the best forms of physical activity for better physical and mental health. It acts both on the internal and external parts of the body. Yoga helps in reducing mental stress, which has a huge impact on the physical form of the body. It is not age-constrained, and individuals of any age and weight can practice yoga. Yoga asanas require the poses to be performed and maintained for a certain period and greatly impact the endocrine gland, muscles, and other body systems. Yoga helps in the longevity of life with better mental and physical health.
