Maintaining our mental health is an essential part of our daily lives. Unfortunately, in today’s day and age, the majority of people suffer from some other form of mental illness. While some try to seek medical help and talk to therapists, others feel that it is a way of life and can be dealt with at home.
If you are the latter one, let me break it to you. It is NOT a way of life. And if you have been feeling depressed recently, consider visiting a medical professional.
However, you are right about one thing. It is possible to deal with mental illnesses at home. Doing yoga can help you deal with it and make it easier.
Yoga And Its Benefits
It is impossible not to know or have heard about yoga unless you live under a rock!
Yoga is a group of mental, physical, and spiritual practices that involves stretching, breathing exercises, and meditation. Originating in ancient India, yoga aims to relax and still the mind and improve concentration.
Yoga provides not only physical but also mental health benefits to people of all ages. If you’re going through an illness, have a chronic disease or condition, or recovering from surgery, this ancient practice can become a crucial part of your treatment and make you recover and heal faster.
There are multiple benefits of yoga:
- Improves strength and flexibility
- Improves heart health
- Improves quality of sleep
- Brightens mood
- Improved energy levels
- Relaxes mind
- Eases joint pain
How Does Yoga Help Fight Depression?
Numerous people are falling prey to depression. The reason behind this ranges from having a traumatic past to hormonal imbalances. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 250 million people of different ages around the world suffer from mental health issues like anxiety and depression.
The benefits of medication to mental health are well known. But some things can be done to ease mental illnesses. By making small lifestyle changes such as eating healthy and practicing yoga and meditation, it is possible to fight depression. Want to know how it works?
According to Ayurveda, an ancient Indian alternative medicine system, we suffer from depression when the body-mind system has low life force energy, responsible for happiness, peace, and enthusiasm. The combination of physical movement and meditation helps the body deal with depression.
On the one hand, restricted or controlled and focused physical movements help to strengthen and improve the body-mind connection. On the other hand, meditation helps clear minds by bringing us to the present moment.
Eases Anxiety By Increasing HRV
Heart Rate Variability, or HRV, is the change in the time between two consecutive heartbeats. To put it simply, it is the variation between heartbeats. Yoga increases the HRV as the relaxation response is longer than the stress response of the heart. Therefore, it is a great way to reduce anxiety naturally.
If your HRV is high, it means that the body has an excellent ability to tolerate and adapt to stress. It may also mean that the body is recovering well from accumulated stress.
Some yoga poses like Child Pose (Shishuasana) and Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana) mainly aim at calming the brain and reducing depression and anxiety.
Acts As An Antidepressant
There are a lot of benefits of medication to mental health. For example, when things get too serious and get out of hand, doctors prescribe certain medicines to aid depression. But did you know that our body has it all?
GABA is one of the primary three neurotransmitters found in our body naturally. Low levels of GABA lead to insomnia, anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders. Yoga boosts feel-good brain chemicals like serotonin, GABA, and dopamine. These are responsible for feelings of relaxation and contentment. In addition, various medications like anxiolytics (an anti-anxiety drug) and antidepressants contain all the three mentioned neurotransmitters.
Try doing yoga poses like the Downward-facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana) and Alternate nostril breathing technique (Nadi Shodhan Pranayama) to fight against depression.
Lack of sleep has also been related to depression. The corpse pose (Savasana) is a yoga pose where you lie flat on your back and relax. This can help with sleep issues.
Takeaway
Studies have shown that yoga helps deal with stress, depression, and anxiety. Not only is it helpful for the mind, but also to the body. If you are suffering from chronic conditions or recovering from surgery, it would be best to practice yoga. Read more: Smart Business Daily, Blog Stellar.
There are many different types of yoga in the world. You will easily be able to adapt your pose to the level you have chosen. Eating healthy along with practicing yoga daily, even for a few minutes, can do wonders for your life. Such healthy lifestyle changes will help you deal with various mental illnesses.