In recent years hot yoga has become very popular. The benefits of hot yoga are similar to the benefits of traditional yoga that help you reduce stress, improve strength, and improve flexibility.
Performing hot yoga needs the room to be heated between 80 to 100 degrees F. During hot yoga, once the heat is switched on, it makes it an intense workout for the heart, lungs, and muscles.
Keen on learning more about the hot yoga? Let’s find out how this workout can benefit you!
You can utilize the benefits of hot yoga if it is done correctly.
One significant benefit of hot yoga is that it makes your body extremely flexible. It is a known fact that stretching cold muscles is not safe, and you must warm up your muscles before stretching.
A hot yoga studio makes it easier to do the yoga poses and is more effective. The heat helps you in stretching more and get into motion.
A study conducted on Bikram Yoga(1) found that in 8 weeks, the yoga participants improved their flexibility in the lower back, hamstrings, shoulder than the rest who didn’t opt for it.
Hot yoga for Weight Loss? Yes! On performing traditional yoga, a 160-pound person may burn up to 183 calories. But According to Colorado State University, men can burn 460 calories while women may burn 330 calories in a Bikram Yoga session.
However, hot yoga, in spite of not being as intense as Bikram Yoga, helps you burn more calories than traditional yoga. And that makes for the health benefits of Bikram Yoga – the ability to help you lose those extra kilos.
[ Read: Power Yoga for Weight Loss ]
Yoga helps to build bone density, and yoga poses help in supporting the weight. This yoga is mostly for menopausal women, and older people as the bone density decreases with age.
A study conducted in 2014 stated that people who practiced Bikram Yoga for five years found that the bone density of premenopausal women had helped increase the bone density in the neck, hips, and the lower back. Hot Yoga for women is highly recommended as it lowers the chances of osteoporosis in women.
Warm Yoga or Hot Yoga eases out breathing and trains the lungs to hold more air. The deep breath makes them expand more than usual, which paves the way for more oxygen to enter the blood and flow to other organs.
In this way, it ups the lung capacity of your body. Hot yoga benefits in maintaining the healthy functioning of the lungs.
[ Read: Breathing Exercises for Asthma ]
The root cause of all health problems today has been narrowed down to stress(2). Practicing yoga everyday helps in reducing stress. The benefits of Heated Yoga shifts your focus to breathing, which itself promotes relaxation of the mind and causes stress relief.
[ Read: Yoga for Stress Relief ]
If you are a beginner to Hot Yoga, you might want to locate the best yoga studio and if it caters to beginners. Get hold of the best yoga studio, one that suits.
Check out for discounts, deals/packages, and timings of yoga classes. If it’s the right fit, go for it.
Always drink plenty of fluid 24 hours before your hot yoga session. Carry a large insulated bottle of water to sip onto whole day
Along with the benefits of hot yoga, there are also a few side-effects that are mentioned below-
The benefits of hot yoga are plenty for the mind and body. It burns more calories, boosts cardiac health, and improves the flexibility of your bones and muscles.
However, it must be ruled out that everyone might not be suitable for Hot Yoga- but can be you can adhere to the regime by consulting a yoga therapist. But for someone who already loves general yoga and wants to add some twist to it, can definitely practice Hot Yoga.
To achieve the best results, you must do it twice every day for at least ten days.
The skin does get damaged when exposed to high temperature and heat. Hot yoga doesn’t suit all kinds of skin and must be tried in moderation.