Hot Yoga: Benefits, Risks, and Who Should Avoid It
Yoga is known to provide numerous health benefits, including muscle strengthening, improved sleep, enhanced flexibility, and reduced stress. However, there are multiple styles and methods of yoga, each providing varying benefits of its own. One of the most popular yoga trends today is hot yoga, which is simply any form of yoga that is done in a heated environment.
What is Hot Yoga?
Hot yoga is usually practiced in a room heated between 90 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit. It can be done in conjunction with standard yoga poses or during rigorous power yoga styles for an intense workout. Hot yoga is often incorporated into other yoga practices and is practiced by many celebrities, including Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Hailey Bieber, Jessica Alba, and Alex Rodriguez.
How is Hot Yoga Different from Regular Yoga?
While many traditional yoga practices are about increasing strength and flexibility, centering oneself or connecting to the spiritual roots of yoga, hot yoga is all about the sweat. The founder of this concept was Indian-born American yoga guru, Bikram Choudrey. He decided to heat his studio to 105 degrees while performing several key yoga postures to recreate the idea of practicing yoga outdoors in India for his students. The heated style excited onlookers and participants alike, and hot yoga exploded in popularity. Today, many studios offer yoga classes in heated rooms across a variety of styles.
Benefits of Hot Yoga
Hot yoga provides numerous benefits. Many love the sweating aspect of it especially, and some studies show that sweating is good for the skin. Along with all that sweat comes a good cardio workout that burns a lot of calories, especially when compared to more traditional yoga styles. A 90-minute hot yoga session burns an average of 330 calories. Several studies have shown that doing yoga in a heated environment does make you stronger more quickly. Another one of hot yoga’s benefits is enhanced breathing techniques. It forces practitioners to have a greater awareness of their breathing, which requires more stamina and endurance and forces yogis to attune to their breath in a deeper way. Sweating during hot yoga may also facilitate the release of toxins from the body.
Risks and Who Should Avoid Hot Yoga
Despite such benefits, hot yoga is not for everyone and should be avoided by pregnant women, people with asthma, and anyone with a heart condition. It increases the risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Heat dilates your blood vessels and makes your heart work harder, which can be dangerous. It’s also easy to get dehydrated doing hot yoga, and wearing breathable, sweat-wicking clothing and drinking tons of water is essential.
Conclusion
Hot yoga is a popular trend, providing numerous benefits like muscle strengthening, improved sleep, enhanced flexibility, and reduced stress. It is not recommended for pregnant women, people with asthma, and anyone with a heart condition as it increases the risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. However, for those who can practice it safely, hot yoga is an excellent workout that provides numerous benefits to the body and mind.
Original Story at www.usatoday.com – 2023-06-24 22:07:09
