Spending over an hour in a 100 degrees Fahrenheit room might not sound like the most comfortable way to spend a Saturday afternoon, but thousands of individuals are doing it. Hot yoga classes have sprung up in many major cities, where participants will stretch their bodies while sweating in a highly-heated room. Many claim that these high temperatures encourage weight loss, stress reduction, and flexibility.
What is Hot Yoga?
Hot yoga can refer to any style of yoga that takes place in a room heated to at least 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Hot yoga rooms can even reach up to 110 degrees. This form of yoga first began in 1973 when Choudhry Bikram decided he wanted his classes to mimic the environment and temperature of India, yoga's place of origin. Like India, hot room yoga is usually very humid alongside the high temperatures.
Hot Yoga Weight Loss
One of the most alluring benefits of hot yoga is its holistic approach to weight loss. Hot yoga classes provide the extra heat and sweat to really get your calories burning – but burning calories is not the only approach hot yoga takes toward weight loss – it also improves your thyroid function and helps to alleviate stress, which can reduce emotional and unhealthy food cravings.
Hot Yoga Classes Improve Flexibility
Warm, loose muscles will stretch farther and better than muscles tensed up in a colder environment. You might feel more comfortable in an air-conditioned room, but your muscles prefer the heat of hot yoga. Improved flexibility will help you master the poses that intimidated you before, and it will guard you against strains and other yoga injuries.
Hot Yoga Erases Stress
Whether you are feeling angry, worried, or frustrated, hot yoga will leave those emotions at the door. The physical stress of elevated temperatures and challenging poses will release excess energy, distract you from day to day worries, and improve your quality of sleep at night.
Hot Yoga Classes Assist the Immune System
Moderate exposure to heat can be beneficial to your body. This is why your temperature naturally rises when your immune system begins fighting an outside invader. Hot yoga raises your body temperature from the outside in, many times killing a cold before it can even begin. Relieving daily stress will also improve the capabilities of your immune system, keeping you healthy and active.
Hot Yoga Classes Improve Joint Health
As your body ages, joint lubrication will begin to falter, resulting in the aches and pains that many feel are unavoidable. Regular hot yoga classes will help your body continue to lubricate your joints even as the years slip by or arthritis begins to set in. Thanks to hot yoga, many report feeling years younger. Don't allow your body to stiffen up and slow you down – the benefits of hot yoga can range from short-term stress relief and weight goals to long-term health and quality of life.
Kristin Wood - K. Wood is a freelance writer from the Southeast who specializes in content about education, health, business, home management, and ...
