If the idea of yoga for seniors sounds a little too “cruchy granola” for you, it is time to rethink that idea. Yoga, especially restorative yoga, can also offer a wide array of health benefits—working physical and psychological wonders. Seniors, who often struggle with pain, joint stress, imbalance, osteoarthritis, and other physical limitations, can benefit from incorporating a yoga practice into their daily routine. In other words, yoga – in whatever form is appropriate for your goals, offers a myriad of health benefits ranging from increased mobility and strength to peace of mind. Let’s explore some of these benefits.
Yoga Improves Balance and Stability
As we age, our body’s change. Things that we were once able to do with relative ease become a little more challenging. Balance and stability – in other words risks for falls and tripping become a little more top of mind as we continue to climb ladders, hop over mud puddles and reach out to grab a falling object without falling ourselves. Yoga improves core strength while helping us connect mindful movement to deliberate action.
Yoga Improves Joint Flexibility
Tightening hamstrings, a sore back and “widow’s hump” are not necessarily in your future. If you’re looking for a gentle exercise that increases flexibility and improves posture, yoga is a great option. Flexibility exercises such as yoga are great if your joints tend to be achy or stiff. In a study that looked at the effectiveness of yoga as an exercise to manage osteoarthritis in elderly women, researchers found that it provided therapeutic benefits.
Yoga Improves Respiration
Like any muscle group, our lungs need a good workout to stay healthy. Sadly as we age our tolerance for physical exercise decreases. Yet a good supply of oxygen is critical for healthy living. . Recent studies have shown that a 12-week yoga program significantly improved respiratory function in elderly women.
Consider this – you can go days without eating but only a few minutes without breathing. Breath is the foundation of life. Shouldn’t we do everything in our power to see that we keep our ability to take in oxygen is in tip top shape?
Yoga Reduces High Blood Pressure
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, can lead to cardiovascular disease and is the second leading cause of kidney disease. Recent studies have found that yoga reduces oxidative stress in the elderly. Oxidative stress is one of the underlying causes of high blood pressure and, especially for seniors, is a strong risk factor for heart attacks.
Yoga Helps Anxiety
Yoga focuses on the integration of mind and body. Through mindful movement and breathing yoga calms the parasympathetic nervous system that fuels that fight or flight response that can sometimes overtake us in times of stress. Yoga helps to reduce the triggers that fuel anxiety.
Encourages Mindfulness
Much has been made about the connection between yoga and mindfulness. So much so that we fail to recognize what mindfulness is. Mindfulness is a state of awareness of our body, our environment and our emotions and how they – and by extension you – interplay with the world around us. Mindfulness allows us to feel greater empathy for ourselves and others and to play harder and live our best lives.