Expert Explains: Mental Health Benefits of Yoga
One of the main benefits of yoga for mental health is its ability to reduce stress and anxiety.
How yoga affects mental health
When you practice yoga, your brain cells develop new connections and changes occur in the structure and function of the brain, leading to improved cognitive skills such as learning and memory.
Yoga strengthens parts of the brain that play a key role in memory, attention, awareness, thinking and language.
Yoga teaches the body to correctly “use” the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for activity.
We can stay focused without giving in to the fight or flight response.
Yoga also activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which allows the body and brain to calm down.
Yoga also has a beneficial effect on mood.
This helps reduce anxiety, in which there is a decrease in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) activity.
This compound acts as a major neurotransmitter with an inhibitory effect on the nervous system.
Yoga helps reduce levels of cortisol, a hormone produced in response to stress.
This can help relieve anxiety symptoms and improve your overall mood.
In a sense, yoga allows you to tune the nervous system.
You turn off the flow of thoughts, focus on sensations, feel your body better and, most importantly, trigger the production of endorphins.
Previously, we talked about meditation.
