Yoga helps to prevent osteoporosis (a bone - thinning disease) that would cause half of the people more than 50 years old to break a bone. Most of them will be women as estrogen drop sharply at menopause. Estrogen is a hormone that is essential to female bone health because it supports the activity of osteoblasts, which are cells that produce bones. Even some researches show that actually yoga can reverse the osteoporosis.
Yoga prevents fractures by building stability and agility. It improves our physical balance and flexibility which makes less likely to fall and brake some of our bones. Yoga improves our mental balance which helps to be more aware, present and focus, reducing the risk of having an accident.
Yoga has calming qualities which helps to lower levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) that brakes down the bone's structure when is chronically elevated.
Asanas for reaching the above benefits:
- Tree pose (Vriksasana)
- Extended triangle pose (Trikonasana)
- Revolved triangle pose (Parivrtta Trikonasana)
- Extended side angle pose (Parsvakonasana)
- Revolved side angle pose (Parivrtta Parsvakonasana)
- Warrior || (Virabhadrasana ||) - Sage's pose (Marichyasana)
- Reclining head-to-big-toe pose (Supta Padangusthasana)
- Locust (Salabhasana)
- Bridge (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)
Each of these asanas has different variations, suitable to any level. They can be followed as a sequence by itself or implemented in a daily practice together with other postures. The main points are: each asana should be hold between 12 and 72 seconds - the range needed to build strength in our bones and each asana has to be performed in a proper alignment (the key to beneficial practice).
Some other natural ways that can be combined with asana practice to build and keep healthy our bones:
- eat lots of vegetables (especially green and yellow ones)
- consume enough proteins (about 50% of bone is made of protein)
- eat high-calcium foods
- get lots of vitamins D and K
- avoid very low-calorie diets
Enjoy and benefit from your practice!
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