How Does Yoga Help Combat Stress-Related Symptoms?
By Tracey L. Ulshafer, Owner/One Yoga & Wellness Center LLC, Hightstown, NJ
A 2016 study by Yoga Journal magazine estimated that thirty-four percent of Americans, or some 80 million people, practice yoga. Whether you think of yoga as a fitness practice, a new-agey thing, or the science of self-realization, the fact of the matter is that a whole lot of people are rolling out the yoga mat today. Why? The benefits of yoga are renewed in studies daily. But perhaps some of the most significantly researched and discussed today are the benefits in combating stress-related symptoms.
Stress, according to another 2016 study, was found to cost the US economy on average $300 billion a year. Common physical symptoms of stress include: low energy, headaches, digestive issues, aches and pains, insomnia, poor immune system, loss of desire for life, chest pain and rapid heartbeat. Other health problems caused by or exacerbated by stress include: depression, anxiety, thinking and memory problems. And we could talk about more. But perhaps what is more important is to understand how stress works and why yoga has been proven in study after study to a positive benefit on all of these symptoms.
When we feel threatened, our nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, which rouse the body for emergency action. Our heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and senses become sharper. This is referred to as the “Fight-or-Flight Response,” and it certainly serves its purpose in our general safety. However, when we become stressed out more frequently, the nervous system can react just as strongly to emotional as physical threats, and disrupt nearly every system of our body – even rewiring our brain leaving us to feel vulnerable to anxiety, depression and other mental health problems.
Here is what we know about yoga in a nutshell: it helps initiate the relaxation response. First of all, the vagus nerve, part of the parasympathetic nervous system responsible for shifting our mind back to a state of calm, is toned through yoga. This helps us to balance and regulate the nervous system so that we do not perceive stress so readily.
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) revealed in their 2015 conference that yoga lowers levels of cortisol, alleviated anxiety, moderated depression and high stress.
In his 2017 work The Science Behind Yoga, Dr. Mithu Storing said, “As you hold a posture, your prefrontal cortex is counting the raised sympathetic sign at as it keeps you focused. This is how we train your mind to keep your stress signal under control. As you mind learns how to do this, you get better at doing this even outside the yoga room.”
So if you, like many other Americans, suffer from stress-related issues, hop on over to your local yoga studio today and get started on a mindful road to wellness.
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