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  • Helena Doulger

    Helena Doulger is a Physiotherapist
The Four Main Mental Benefits of Yoga
Exercise

The Four Main Mental Benefits of Yoga

Most people would not be surprised to discover that yoga provides valuable benefits to physical health. However, what might surprise some is that yoga can be extremely good for psychological health as well. Check out these four great mental health benefits of practicing yoga. The Four Main Mental Benefits of Yoga Lowers Stress Yoga can help relieve anxiety and lower stress. Stress is experienced as a result of the body's stress response, during which heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, and breathing may become shallow and rapid. Researchers have found, however, that yoga can counteract all three of these symptoms, helping a person to reach a state of relaxed calm. Indeed, many people who practice yoga find it creates a sort of mental oasis, allowing them to temporarily escape the stress of the world. Treats Depression Yoga can help treat depression. More serious than anxiety or stress, symptoms of depression can still be alleviated by yoga. Depression is often marked by feelings of worry and anxiety, and a sense of both mental and physical fatigue. However, depression patients who practice yoga have been found to suffer less from these difficult symptoms. Deep breathing (which is sometimes an aspect of yoga) can also help mitigate depression. While yoga certainly can't cure depression, it seems to be able to help sufferers cope. Alleviates PTSD Yoga may be able to partially alleviate PTSD. People who have undergone traumatic experiences can suffer from many negative symptoms, including nightmares and flashbacks. Some studies performed on war veterans (who are among those likeliest to have PTSD) have shown that yoga is effective in treating some of those symptoms. Improves Mood Even people without serious issues such as anxiety or depression will probably still feel better after a session of yoga. That's because, as researchers have discovered, yoga can raise mood,dispel negative emotions, and enhance a person's sense of wellbeing. It is believed that yoga boosts mood by activating the natural relaxation response, in which brain and body transition from a state of arousal to one of deep rest. In this process, blood pressure lowers and adrenaline stops pumping, among other effects. Clearly, yoga is not just for the physical body. The benefits that yoga can provide to the mind are real and genuine. All the more reason why more people -- especially those seeking relief from either serious psychological maladies or simple, everyday stress -- should give yoga a try.

Change Your Posture, Change Your Life!
Exercise

Change Your Posture, Change Your Life!

In my last post (4 Ways To Boost Your Energy), I shared some of the important factors in maintaining our energy throughout the day. This includes: "Staying Rested, Eating Healthy, Keeping Yourself in an upright posture and Keeping yourself moving". Now Let's take a closer look at what an upright posture means and how it affects our body in a physical, emotional and energetic way.First, let me give you a few pointers for an upright posture, whether you are sitting or standing an aligned posture means that your feet remain grounded, your pelvis stays parallel to the ground meaning not leaning backwards or forward. This way, the spine oscillates freely maintaining its natural curvature. This alignment of the spine and its base of support allows the head to float freely on the neck keeping the chin parallel to the ground.So why is this alignment necessary to the functioning of our body? Simply put, because this allows the energy to flow freely throughout the body. If we think of energy as the oxygen delivered to every cell, then we can see that any deviation from an upright spine will automatically compress tissues, preventing them from getting the necessary oxygen. Without oxygen, your cells fail to fulfill their function, and some eventually die off.Some of the latest studies have linked our posture to our emotions and our ability to make choices. They have been able to show a connection between how each posture affects our hormone levels. Depending on what hormones are dominating in our body, this will change our mood and our state of mind which in turn governs our decision-making capacities.The posture that I often encounter is the "slouched" posture. In this case, we can see that the chest is collapsing in the front creating compression of the whole rib cage. A mechanical compression of this sort of the heart and lungs doesn't allow these organs to bring oxygen to the entire body. This posture will also create tensions in the muscles which will, in turn, compress the nerves, blood vessels, and lymphatic tissues, creating muscular discomfort, nerve damage, decreased vascularization and reduce the efficiency of the immune system. Maintaining an optimal posture in sitting, standing and moving allows your whole organism to function in balance, hence giving you more energy and more power to fulfill your everyday goals.As we go about our day, we might be aware of different things our body communicates to us such as when we are hungry when we are tired or simply when we need to go to the washroom, but we are often not aware of our posture. The reason for this is that our "normal" posture has become so habitual and "comfortable" that even if it is not ideal or even damaging to our body, the body has registered this posture as being normal. It takes our whole attention and dedication to become aware of our posture and then to bring the necessary changes. The more we become aware of our posture and can correct it, the more we can help rewire our brain so that the better posture becomes more natural to us.If you are serious about changing your posture, I recommend you read The New Rules of Posture by Mary Bond. The book explains the anatomical and emotional components of posture. Included many exercises and ergonomics information to help correct unhealthy movement patterns and it also teaches how to adopt a healthy posture in the modern world.The next time you are crouched over the computer scrolling through your Facebook feed, at least, do it with an upright spine so that you can have a healthier body, more energy, and a happier life.

4 Ways to Boost your Energy
Diet & Exercise

4 Ways to Boost your Energy

Do you notice that some days are just easier than others? It’s easier to wake up, it's easier to make decisions, it's easier to attend to your work and it's much easier to achieve your goals. Other days are the complete opposite, everything is difficult and getting to your goal seems nearly impossible. Ever wondered why?It has to do with our energy levels during the day. Our energy level affects how we feel which in turn affects how much effort we put into our daily activities. Research shows that our energy level itself is affected by everything around us, things we do and things we don't do. Obviously keeping track of everything would be impossible, but there are a few major factors that I encourage you to pay attention to, in order to keep your energy levels high throughout the day, every day!Here Are 4 Ways to Boost your EnergyStay RestedThe most important thing is to get enough rest and sleep. Sleeping is the human body’s way of restoring its energy and to attend to its major functions. When you sleep at night your body is awake actively replenishing, restoring and healing different systems and organs involved in our everyday life. Also remember that even if you slept well during the night, it is also important to give your body sufficient rest time in order to integrate and restabilize throughout the day. You might think that you don't have time for this, but just remember that as little as 5 minutes of quiet time is enough to rebalance the nervous system and replenish your energy levels.Eat HealthyThe second factor is what you choose to feed your body. What we ingest into our body has been proven to influence our productivity, our mood and our capacity to make the right decisions. To keep you energy levels high and constant, try to eat foods that are high in proteins. Vegetable and fruits are also a vital source of nutrients for your diet as they provide a sustainable and easily digestible source of energy for your body. It is also recommended to eat smaller meals and several healthy snacks during the day, such as protein bars, nuts and fruits to maintain a steady glucose level. This will allow a constant flow of energy to the brain , allowing you to remain better focused for longer periods of time.Keep an Upright PostureThe third factor may come as a surprise, but your posture plays an enormous role on your energy level. Not only has it shown to be directly related to your emotional state, but by simply keeping an upright posture you allow the energy to flow freely throughout the body. You can think of energy as the oxygen that is delivered to your cells, if the posture is not maintained it will compress the tissues and inhibit the delivery of oxygen, leaving some of your cells without oxygen. Cells that don’t breath fail to fulfill their functions and will eventually die off. Therefore sitting, standing and moving in alignment allows the organism to function in balance, hence giving you more energy and more power to fulfill your goals.Keep MovingAt last! One of the most important factors in maintaining our energy throughout the day is to keep our body moving. It is now a well known fact that a daily exercises routine can improve your overall well being. I would also encourage you to just keep moving , take every opportunity . Movement activates our respiratory, circulatory and immune systems. It also allows us to release excess energy making room for new vital energy into our body. Movement also brings our attention into the body and hence into the present moment. This has a calming effect on the nervous system by decreasing our stress levels. Lower stress allows us to better regulate our energy and to focus our energy on achieving our goals.Each of these factors plays a crucial role in our ability to keep our energy everyday no matter the challenges that we might face along the way. Learning to balance our energy levels is the key to success , so it is important to see this as a path in which each step requires our dedication and courage to bring change.::::::Subscribe to GoalcastDid you enjoy this post? Don't forget to subscribe to Goalcast for our latest posts and updates.Have something to add?Please share it in the comments below. We would love to know what you think!