Why yoga is good for your heart

Sometimes a fad comes along and just grabs the collective consciousness by the short bits so that society just has to follow. Tablet computers and mobile phones are one fad du jour but you can rest assured that just as surely as a new model with a new charging device is no more than six months away, so too in 20 years time the phones that are so indispensable today will be regarded as amusing relics of an antiquated way of living. Yoga is another fad of the modern era that has been embraced by everyone from celebrity supermodels to footballers to spiritual questors. One suspects though that yoga will outlast other fads of the day, largely because it really is no fad and because it has real and tangible benefits for those who practice it.

Artwork depicting images of people or gods in advanced yoga postures are dated at 2,700 BCE. The first significant written mention of yoga is in the Bhagavad-Gita, which was written about the fifth century BCE. Hence, conventional belief is that yoga originated in India at least 5,000 years ago but traditional Indian belief is that yoga itself is far older and was practised all over the world. Buddhist yoga arose out of Indian yoga in about the fifth century BCE and slowly spread into the rest of Asia. Indian yoga came to China in about 500 CE and developed into Taoist yoga.

What has grabbed the modern Western mind is the physical form of yoga. Physical yoga consists of physical exercises and breath-control, and is often thought of as a static or slow moving type of stretching and relaxation. However, it can also include strenuous exercises that tone muscles, tension nerves and stimulate the cardiovascular system. There is of course, more to yoga than the physical. Yoga also includes disciplines and meditative practices and can help to expand the mind, explore the emotions, and develop the relationship between yourself and the rest of the world. It is truly a holistic endeavour but the new study has shown that on the purely physical level it is certainly very powerful.

The new study involved a systematic review of 37 separate trials involving 2,768 people. The aim was to assess whether the research shows that yoga has an impact on cardiovascular disease. The analysis showed that yoga yields a significant improvement in cardiovascular risk factors compared to people who are sedentary and that the effects are equivalent to exercise like walking and bike riding. The evidence was that yoga reduced body mass index, reduced blood pressure, reduced bad cholesterol, and increased good cholesterol.

The overall effect of yoga was similar to aerobic exercise and at least part of this is probably due to the reduced stress that it allows.

If you want to embrace a “fad” then, why not embrace one that has been around for at least 5,000 years.