Can yoga help you lose weight?

 Yoga is known to increase flexibility and lower tension, but can it also aid with weight loss?

Can yoga aid with weight loss? There is a tone of information that suggests it can improve mobility, but there is little evidence that the activity is a true calorie burner. One study found that a 60-minute Vinyasa practice burned fewer calories than a treadmill walking session, which was published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health(opens in new tab). As a result, if you're attempting to lose weight, it's generally not the best type of training for you.

There is some research that suggests some people can lose weight through yoga, but the typical healthy person won't notice much of a difference. However, keep in mind that there are many advantages to yoga(opens in new tab), making it worthwhile to hold onto your best yoga mat for the time being. Here are the results of the most recent studies on yoga and weight loss.

CAN YOGA ASSIST YOU IN WEIGHT LOSS?\

There is minimal evidence, according to a systematic evaluation of 445 records published in Preventative Medicine, that yoga could have a significant impact on a healthy person's weight. However, the analysis points out that among overweight participants in yoga research, some significant reductions in body mass were noted. Thus, the practise may help some people lose weight, but as with many exercise regimens, this depends on your initial level of fitness as well as the frequency and intensity of your yoga sessions.

The amount of energy required for the body's maintenance processes, known as the basal metabolic rate, has also been shown to decrease with yoga practise. Lowering this pace causes the body as a whole to slow down, which reduces the amount of energy required for housekeeping tasks.More than 100 participants in the study were given instructions for a variety of Hatha yoga poses that are intended to both increase and decrease metabolic rate. This schedule was followed by the participants for more than six months.

The study also discovered that, on average, women experienced an 8% decline in basal metabolic rate compared to men's 18% decline. The physiological slowdown caused by yoga "creates a propensity for weight gain and fat deposition," according to lead author M. S. Chaya.The study effectively showed that the percentage of basal metabolic rate reduction was significant enough to indicate that yoga practitioners would either need less food and fewer calories. Therefore, if they continued to eat normally and practise yoga, they would put on weight.

CAN YOGA HELP YOU BUILD MUSCLE?

Although yoga is primarily thought practised as a way to increase flexibility, there is some evidence that it may also help you develop (or at least improve) your muscular mass.

A study in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine(opens in new tab) found there were significant improvements in the muscular strength in men and women who practiced yoga compared with the control group. But increased muscle strength may depend on the type of yoga you practice. 

A Yin or Restorative yoga practise, for instance, targets passive stretching and has an impact on the connective tissues. As opposed to other forms of yoga, Bikram or Ashtanga is considerably more dynamic and functions more like a cardio workout because the poses are harder and the class moves at a faster speed. The latter includes tightening muscles to stretch opposing ones, so you could anticipate that doing it will increase your strength. Active stretching is the term for this.One way that yoga can help you build muscle is by pose progression, gradually trying different variations of postures and increasing the skill level. This was found by a study published in the Journal of Complementary Therapies of Medicine.

CAN YOGA HELP IMPROVE OTHER ASPECTS OF YOUR HEALTH?

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Yoga has many other health benefits, some of which are increased flexibility, improved mental health and wellbeing, reduced stress and quality of sleep. 

A study published in the International Journal of Yoga(opens in new tab) followed college athletes over a period of 10 weeks. There were two groups; one that had biweekly yoga sessions and a control group that did no yoga activity. There were significant differences in the flexibility of the group that attended biweekly yoga sessions whereas there were no significant differences in the group that did no yoga activity.Yoga has also been shown to benefit mental health and wellbeing. The International Journal of Yoga

(opens in new tab) published a study that found that practicing yoga and meditation as a means to manage acute and chronic stress can help individuals overcome comorbidities associated with diseases and leads to an improved quality of life.

This study also found that a regular yoga practice positively affected people’s ability to fall asleep. They found that less time was taken to fall asleep and there was an increase in the number of hours they slept for. Participants also reported feeling more rested in the morning.

Yoga therefore has a number of additional advantages than weight loss that may help you live a better, healthier life.