More than 37 million Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people over age 45, though it is increasing in younger Americans(1). There’s no cure for type 2 diabetes, but losing weight, eating well and exercising can help you manage the disease. If diet and exercise aren’t enough to manage your blood sugar, you may also need diabetes medications or insulin therapy.
Benefits of Yoga
Along with a good diet, physical exercise is also necessary to keep the body healthy. For this, instead of going to the gym, you can do yoga at home. By doing regular yoga exercises, the mind remains healthy along with the body. A number of studies have shown that yoga may help reduce stress and anxiety. Studies have suggested that emotional stress plays a role in the etiology of type 2 diabetes. Yoga can enhance your mood and overall sense of well-being. Yoga might also help you manage your symptoms of depression and anxiety that are due to difficult situations.
In today’s age, obesity and diabetes are catching people fast. However, you can manage your diabetes and even reverse some of its effects by taking care of your mind and body now.
What is Yoga and How Can it Help?
Yoga is a mind-body activity that involves moving through a series of body poses and breathing exercises that can improve strength, flexibility, balance and relaxation. Dozens of different formats, or practices, such as hatha, anusara, ashtanga and many others, emphasize different focuses, such as toning, strength training or meditation. Neither exercise nor Yoga can actually ‘cure’ Diabetes, but it can certainly help many people living with this disease.
Yoga practice, in contrast, is the surest means of reducing obesity, with no side effects. In fact, doing yoga asanas with the help of the pituitary gland, certain hormones get activated, which reduces obesity rapidly. Overweight/obesity is a pressing international health concern, and conventional treatments demonstrate poor long-term efficacy. Several studies have shown that yoga can control risk factors for cardiovascular disease, obesity, and psychosocial stress.
On the other hand, the pancreas causes the secretion of hormones that prevent diabetes and also control diabetes. Many Doctors are going to recommend you to begin an exercise program, once you are diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, says Matt Schmidt of Diabetes 365. Along with making lifestyle changes, and watching your diet, you may be able to control your Type 2 Diabetes without taking any medication.
It’s important to choose an exercise that fits your routine, and one that you enjoy. Not everyone is built to run miles outside or on a treadmill. Often times Yoga, could be the proper exercise for you to implement into your life. Yoga can be completed at your own house, at a park, or at a nearby gym.
How Yoga Is Beneficial To Fight Diabetes?
According to several studies, yoga asanas and meditation are the best choices to fight with diabetes. Doing yoga regularly will reduce high sugar levels in the blood and helps in controlling blood glucose. Along with that, yoga is also useful to control your stress that will surely decrease the elevated blood sugar levels.
Asanas like pranayama and meditation are the most economical way to fight diabetes, it not only aids in glycaemic control but it also improves the daily life routine.
Additionally, yoga helps decrease the chance of cardiovascular diseases, which might subsequently decrease insulin resistance syndrome. Insulin resistance syndrome usually means your body isn’t reacting to the insulin it naturally creates, which causes a rise in blood glucose level. This can cause type 2 diabetes. The concept is to help modulate stress hormones as this will help with both blood pressure and blood glucose levels.
Can Vinyasa Yoga Affect Blood Sugar Levels?
Vinyasa yoga doesn’t have a fixed set of poses, instead it is a quick flow of several poses along with coordinated breathing. Whether it can affect the blood sugar levels or not, it mostly depends on the instructors because Vinyasa doesn’t have a fixed set of poses. You will not find any 2 poses similar to one another.
The poses can be very relaxing some time and can get all the way up to “Power Yoga” that will push your strength. The exact blood sugar level reduction depends on the levels it is before the workout.
Conclusion
There are a lot more yoga exercises that can be used to reduce the blood sugar level like Bikram yoga, but I think Vinyasa yoga is perfect for everyone, as it takes your heart rate up without letting you feel like you’ve taken a bath with your clothes.
Although you can learn yoga from books and videos, beginners usually find it helpful to learn with an instructor. Classes also offer camaraderie and friendship, which are also important to overall well-being.
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/type2.html#:~:text=More%20than%2037%20million%20Americans,them%20have%20type%202%20diabetes.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20193636/
Leave a Reply