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8 Health Benefits Of Morning Yoga Practice

The word ‘Yoga’ is derived from a Sanskrit word called ”Yuji”, which means union. Yoga is a mind-body exercise that syndicates physical movement, meticulous breathing, and mental peace.

The best part is anybody can do yoga, irrespective of age, gender or lifestyle.

It is so rightly said that treating your body as a temple makes you the god or goddess of that temple. So, it is important to preserve it clean from the inside out. And what better way than practising yoga in the morning as one of the most advantageous routines to your day.

Yoga offers a lot of benefits in curing and preventing health problems. One of the main health concerns we all are facing today is ”stress”. Research studies in the past have shown that yoga in the morning can help minimize your stress hormones and improves your productivity. 

Let’s understand in detail about the benefits of doing yoga especially in the morning:

1. Get Rid of The Morning Muscle Stiffness: 

Conducting yoga asanas or stretching exercises can help muscles and joints loosen up, remove the stiffness and thus allow the proper flow of the blood. Usually, when we sleep, our muscles rest, and layers of connective tissue and bodily fluids can build up. These tissues can cause stiffness and need to be released after waking up. If we avoid stretching or any exercises in the morning, these fluids build up, become thicker causing more stiffness which can lead to tight muscles or pains in the joints.

2. Let Go Off Stress Of The Previous Day: 

Gifting yourself every day an hour or half an hour in the mornings to get going and doing yoga will allow your entire body’s cycle including a nervous system to get back on track. This will also help you to start your day in a relaxed state and let go of the stress of your previous day. Relaxing the stress hormones in the morning can help us improve the health of the body and mind immeasurably. Not only that, it strengthens the immune system as well.

3. Gets your Breathing on Track: 

”Pranayam” or ”Breathing Exercise” is a practice to allow you to control your breathing. ”Pranayam” has been extensively studied to improve lung capacity which is the maximum amount of air that can be expelled from your lungs. This can be beneficial for the functioning of all your organs. 

4. Releases Happy Hormones: 

Have you ever felt happy and sad immediately after a few minutes? Well, those are your tiny hormones playing inside you. Hormones play a very important role in our bodily process, mainly help to regulate our moods and some of these hormones like dopamine and endorphin are known to promote positive feelings and happiness. Studies have shown that meditation in the morning can help dopamine and endorphin production and thus leads to a happy and productive day.

5. Time for yourself: 

It is essential to have at least 10 minutes of ”me-time.” Because studies have shown it helps improve productivity and also provides much needed mental peace to kick-start your morning chores. Doing yoga asanas in the morning alone can help you gain inner peace and energy to face the world every day. It is a way to tell how much you care for yourself – whether it is for 10 minutes or 1 hour.

In my opinion, practising morning yoga has multiple health benefits. Morning yoga might help in reducing stress, strengthen respiratory health, and improve overall health. As all these factors contribute to strengthening the immune system, practising morning yoga might help in boosting immunity.

Dr. Siddharth Gupta, B.A.M.S, M.D (Ayu)

6. Takes Care of Digestive System: 

Studies have proved many times that your gut and your brain are interconnected. If your body cannot absorb and digest the food eaten properly the next morning, then that can create other health issues and may even affect your intake the same day. By doing yoga in the morning, the body’s metabolism is boosted and the digestive system releases waste products and digests the required nutrients very much efficiently. Your peace of mind begins from the belly!

7. Say Bye to Caffeine: 

After waking up in the morning, your mind and body may not be in sync and that’s where we crave for our morning coffees. But, yet as discussed above, your body might feel tight and stiff. Suryanamaskar is also known as Sun salutations is a sequence of 12 powerful yoga asanas. It not only heals your mind and body but provides you instant energy, positivity and can also help boost your work right from the day you start doing the asana. Thus, you can easily say good-bye to your Ek cup of chai/coffee.

I would highly recommend clubbing meditation with your morning yoga routine. After a fresh morning walk and doing your routine morning yoga asanas, meditation might help your body to relax, and your mind to soothe and achieve inner peace along with mindfulness.

Dr. Rajeev Singh, BAMS

8. Boost your focus and concentration

Morning yoga practice can calm you down. It helps improve mental focus and concentration. When you control your breathing, your brain gets loads of fresh oxygen. This will increase your mental clarity and ensure that you are prepared for work and can give your full attention and work with maximum efficiency.

Above all, dedicatedly following yoga practices in the mornings can allow you to become a morning person and let your day not go to waste.

Challenge yourself to get a perfect body, a happy mind, and a calm soul by combining yoga asanas, meditation, pranayama, and a healthy diet.

Read more about: Can You Turn to Yoga for Stress Relief?

Disclaimer: The information included at this site is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment by a healthcare professional. Because of unique individual needs, the reader should consult their physician to determine the appropriateness of the information for the reader’s situation.

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5 Simple Yoga Poses That You Can Try At Work!

A stiff neck, aching shoulders, and a sore lower back – 8+ hours in the office can do more harm than good! Well, we can’t tell you to stop working but we can advise you to steal a few moments from an action-packed day to do some on-the-spot Yoga poses that can help relieve the discomfort, boost your energy and clear your mind.So, are you ready to get started?

Sitting Tadasana

This is the same traditional Tadasana that you can perform in the seated position. Raise your arms above your head keeping them close to the ears. Ensure that your elbows are straight and spread your fingers wide (drawing your thumb towards the back of your head). While doing this asana, breathe 3-5 counts. This asana relaxes the muscles of the arms and shoulders which generally get strained after sitting long hours in front of the laptop. While this pose is exceptionally useful in the sitting position, no harm in performing the same in the standing position too, that is if you get a chance!

Desk Plank Pose

Place your hands at a shoulder-width distance on a desk’s edge. Move your feet behind until they are directly under your hips and can create slight traction on your lower spine. Hold this position for 5 to 7 breathing counts and till all the stiffness from the lower back vanishes. You can also do a slight variation of this pose by bending forward to create a minor strain on your forearms.

Wrist and Finger Stretches

This set of exercises is by far the easiest to do! All you need to do is extend your arms forward, make a fist, and draw 5 to 10 circles in the clockwise and anti-clockwise direction. You can also stretch each arm out, bend, and twist your wrist inward and outward, while you counter stretch with the other hand. Repeat these stretches every 2 to 3 hours to ease up the tension built up in the muscles and tendons of the fingers, hands, and wrists.Also Read: Yoga Poses for Heart Health

Chair Pigeon Pose

Crossing your legs and sitting for a long duration creates an imbalance in the hips and lower spine. You can regain the balance back by doing the Chair Pigeon pose. While you are seated on your chair, bring your right ankle to rest on your left thigh. Hold this pose for 3 to 5 breaths, ensuring that the knee and ankle of the raised leg are in a straight line as far as possible.   To intensify things a bit, you may also bend forward and don’t forget to repeat the same pose with the other leg too.Also Read: Why Does Stretching Feel Good? Exploring the Science Behind It

Chair Savasana

No Yoga session is complete without the very relaxing Savasana. After a hard day of work, spare a few moments to sit with your eyes closed and hands relaxed on your lap. The seated Savasana relaxes your mind and body and helps you absorb all the positive effects of this beautiful asana.Read More: Health Benefits of YogaDisclaimer: The information provided here is for educational/awareness purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment by a healthcare professional and should not be relied upon to diagnose or treat any medical condition. The reader should consult a registered medical practitioner to determine the appropriateness of the information and before consuming any medication. PharmEasy does not provide any guarantee or warranty (express or implied) regarding the accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of the information; and disclaims any liability arising thereof.Links and product recommendations in the information provided here are advertisements of third-party products available on the website. PharmEasy does not make any representation on the accuracy or suitability of such products/services. Advertisements do not influence the editorial decisions or content. The information in this blog is subject to change without notice. The authors and administrators reserve the right to modify, add, or remove content without notification. It is your responsibility to review this disclaimer regularly for any changes.