Did you know that yoga and health are intertwined?

Although a spiritual practice at its core, the Western world views the ancient practice of yoga mostly through the lens of holistic healing. Even the National Institutes of Health classifies yoga as a form of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). But there is some truth to this because at the core of yoga philosophy is a focus on one’s health with the purpose of preparing the mind and body for enlightenment. Furthermore, the healing benefits of yoga are now widely recognized within the medical community thanks to a growing body of research confirming the yoga’s healing power.

Most of these studies found that yoga prevents stress-related diseases and improves overall health and well-being. Considered a holistic practice, yoga is said to heal the mind, body, and soul. Whatever ailment you may be suffering, yoga can help you without any risk of side effects.

If you need more convincing on why you should start practicing yoga, here are a couple of the health benefits yoga provides.

Better mental health

According to an article published in the International Journal of Yoga, mental health problems such as anxiety and depression are one of the most common reasons why people seek alternative treatments such as yoga.

Yoga seems to be just as effective, if not better, like medication and talk therapy in relieving the symptoms of mental illness. The reason for this being that yoga helps one relax by downregulating the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis) which is, almost without exception, overactive in people with mental disorders.

Put simply, yoga helps one achieve tranquility of the mind, greater levels of well-being, relaxation, improved self-esteem, lowered irritability, and a positive outlook on life, all of which are lacking in people with anxiety and depression. The mood-boosting benefits of yoga are also long-lasting and become permanent aspects of one’s outlook on life.

Reduced stroke and heart attack risk

Chronic stress is now recognized as a major contributing factor for atherosclerosis, a condition which increases a person’s risk of stroke and heart attacks. But yoga does not solely reduce your risk of stroke via stress relief.

The deep breathing and stretching during yoga practice are known to help thin the blood and as such reduce your risk of blood clots. Twisting poses wring out the venous blood in internal organs, and this allows oxygen-rich blood to reach these organs once the twist is released.

Similarly, inverted poses help the venous blood in the lower extremities go back to the heart and into the lungs where it is oxygenated. Yoga postures that increase heart rate can also provide aerobic-like benefits to the heart muscle, strengthening the heart and with this reducing the danger of stroke and heart attack.

Greater flexibility and strength

Stiff joints, sore muscles, and poor function biomechanics are today’s common complaints that tend to get worse with age. Regular yoga practice can help prevent age-related decline in flexibility and strength.

This is simply because yoga postures help gets your body through a whole range of movements that inevitably lead to greater flexibility and muscle strength. One of the main reasons why people develop arthritis with age is simply limited and repetitive movements that lead to muscle atrophy and joint cartilage wasting.

Yoga can help with other age-related problems as well such as osteoporosis, cognitive decline, hormonal imbalances, and even urinary incontinence. Because incontinence can result from weak pelvic floor muscles, yoga postures that strengthen the pelvic floor can provide much relief just like Kegel exercises for men and women.

See Also: 13 Yoga Trends To Immerse Yourself In On Your Journey To Health & Happiness

Improved sleep quality

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC), as much as 1 in 3 US adults are not getting the sufficient amount of sleep. This is rather concerning considering that sleep disorders increase a person’s risk of systematic disease, mental illness, and even cancer.

One of the main reasons why people of today seem to have trouble sleeping is an overactive nervous system. Yoga calms the central nervous system by helping you turn your senses inward which inevitably bring you into a relaxed state of mind – something that is crucial for quality sleep.

A study that was published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine even found that older adults practicing meditative yoga for 12 weeks reported better overall sleep quality, reduced anxiety and depression, reduced fatigue, greater vitality, and improved sense of well-being.

See Also: Are You Sleep Deprived? 8 Health Risks Of Poor Sleep 

Stronger immune system

One of the strongest side effects of chronic stress is a weakened immune system. On the other hand, the stress-reducing benefits of yoga are known to lead to overall greater vitality by strengthening immune system functioning.

Our immune system protects us from pathogenic diseases but also from cancer, autoimmune disorders, allergies, and general disease-susceptibility. Because stress leads to the suppression of the mechanisms that control the immune system such as T-cell production, our risk of becoming ill increases.

Yoga can help keep us disease-free thanks to the stress-relief it provides but also by improving blood flow to vital organs, establishing hormonal balances, and making us more attentive to our health by increasing our awareness.

Conclusion

In today’s hectic world, stress is taking a toll on our health and well-being. Reducing your stress levels can make a big difference for your health, but this seems to be easier said than done.

Thankfully, the ancient wisdom of yoga that’s over 3000 years old has provided us with the secrets to keeping our mind’s at ease during the most stressful times. But the gentle stretching and deep breathing in yoga also help us stay healthy throughout life.

Yoga postures improve flexibility, joint health, and cardiovascular functioning. The result is no more aches and pains. Yoga also strengthens our immune system which research shows is important not just for fighting viruses, but also for preventing cancer and chronic illness.

In short, yoga as a holistic practice treats our body as a whole and provides healing from within. Practicing yoga will provide you with more health benefits than you can count.

 

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You’ve probably heard, ‘Don’t let the bedbugs bite!” But that’s easier said than done. You really can’t stop the pesky little blood suckers from biting and leaving you with itchy reddish welts.

If you’ve gone on vacation, you can only hope that the hotel you billeted into is bug-free or that no bedbug took up temporary residence in your clothes or luggage. Otherwise, you’ll end up bringing home a little bloodsucker souvenier from your two-week vacation. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to unknowingly infect your home with bedbugs after a bout of traveling.

But don’t fret since there are ways on how one can avoid bringing bedbugs home. Here’s how.

Pack for protection

A plastic trash bag or a sealable plastic container will help your clothing and your luggage bedbug-free. Cover your luggage with a large plastic trash bag to keep the bugs from entering your suitcase.

Store your belongings safely

If you want to put your clothes in the hotel drawers or clothes cabinet, sealing it in a plastic bag or container will help you make sure that no bedbugs hide in your fashionable ensemble. And if you are putting them back inside your luggage, make sure to inspect your clothing that no critters are hiding away. Also, always keep your luggage close at all times.

Head straight for the bathroom

The least place that bedbugs hide and dwell is the bathroom, especially the bathtub. So, directly bring your luggage in the bathroom to avoid those little critters. In case you will leave your suitcases in the room, make sure they are placed in sealable plastic containers that are closed at all times.

Play detective

Once you arrive in your hotel room, inspect all crevices of the room, especially your bed. Check the bed, under the covers, and even pull back the beddings.

If needed, remove all pillowcases and check the seams and crevices. You may think this is a bit extreme especially since enjoying your vacation should be your top priority. However, taking a few minutes to play detective and being meticulous in checking your bed, beddings, pillows, pillowcases and headboards will help you make sure that you won’t get bitten and suffer from bites later on.

See Also: 10 Things You Never Knew About Bed Bugs 

Teach kids hotel protocol

Teach your kids how to pack properly for protection, store the luggage in the bathroom and to check the beds and beddings inside and out, including the headboard’s creases and crevices.

Following these tips will surely help you avoid bringing home bed bugs as well as teach your kids some useful and practical life skills. But in case you suspect that some critters still managed to get into your luggage, directly store away your suitcases in the basement or put it in a large plastic trash bag and leave it inside your car outside. The heat of the sun can kill bedbugs for good.

More so, it is best to unpack your clothing, used or not, directly to the washing machine at 120 degrees temperature or more. Also, make sure to spin it dry since this will ensure that you are killing all bed bugs and its eggs.

To further make sure that you are protected, take the time to read up on our bedbugs protection plan. This way, our post-vacation plan won’t be wasted on killing and disinfecting your home with these bloodsucking critters.

 

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Ever had an insult cut you so deep that it still stings years later?

Mine occurred in my early 20s – the day after I’d been dumped. It was a deserved break-up. I’d treated her terribly for months. As I went to unfriend her on Facebook, I spotted the following status:

“It’s funny when you see how ugly someone is on the inside, how ugly they become on the outside.”

Urgh. This hit home hard. Not only because I’d been a bad boyfriend, but also because these words were so shockingly true.

She’d described a sensation that happens to all of us when we truly hate someone. In her eyes, I was an ogre.

It hurt, but it also taught an important lesson about inner and outer beauty.

–The power of perception–

Have you browsed through photos of an ex and wondered what you were thinking, even though you used to be besotted? Or seen yourself in the mirror and cringed, despite being delighted with your appearance days earlier?

This is the brain’s reticular activating system (RAS) in action. It controls our selective focus, deciding what captures our attention and what remains as a background blur.

Studies suggest that this function is programmed to focus on whatever matches our inner belief system. If we believe someone is seriously awesome, our RAS searches for evidence to back that up. But when we don’t like someone, our brain focuses on their flaws.

This works for personalities and physical features. Yes, our brains actually perceive pictures of a partner differently depending on how we feel about them.

–Why inner beauty is important–

This theory explains why no mother thinks their son is ugly – or why so many husbands believe they have the hottest wife in the world.

It also explains why I fell for my ex in the first place. When I first set eyes on her, I thought she was nothing special. But then I spotted her dancing crazily on the nightclub table. Suddenly, she was the sexiest woman in the venue – and I had to have her. My perception flipped within minutes.

This phenomenon may be even more powerful with women. Sure, being physically attractive plays a part when they’re selecting a partner, but it’s in their DNA to find a good fit for raising a family. She wants a man that can be a fantastic role model for her children.

That’s why qualities like confidence, honesty and a strong character are arguably more important to her than being handsome.

M. Farouk Radwan, psychologist and founder of 2knowmyself.com, explains: “A man can choose his life partner in seconds after seeing her, but a woman usually needs more time to assess the man’s personality traits, as most women give them higher weight than looks.

“Of course, a woman would like to be with an attractive man, but to most women, looks won’t count that much, provided that the man looks acceptable and that he possesses the important personality traits they are looking for.”

–Why good-looking men get all the girls–

If this theory is true, why aren’t there tons of short, fat, bald dudes dating supermodels?

Sadly, most of these men are so caught up with their less-than-perfect appearance they can’t show the qualities that women are actually looking for. They don’t feel entitled to be confident, unstifled, daring, strong-willed ambitious etc.

Meanwhile, the tall strong sports athlete has no issue showing these attributes. Society gives these stereotypes permission to act like God’s gift to women. They’re expected to be bold, sociable, secure in their own skin, so it’s simple for them to be this way.

My advice for men and women who don’t meet society’s ideal standards of beauty? Stop complaining about being too tall, short, fat, skinny, black, white. It doesn’t matter. Do what you can to improve your body, fashion, nutrition – then work on your inner beauty.

Smile big, laugh often, become more sociable, be comfortable in your own skin. Give compliments, help others, find your passion, make bold decisions, follow your dreams. Live life to its fullest.

You’ll be amazed how this affects your dating life. Women will be falling at your feet. They’ll call you handsome, sexy etc regardless of what you actually look like.

It’s funny when they see how beautiful you are on the inside, how beautiful you become on the outside.

See Also: 6 Ways On How To Attract Love In Your Life 

 

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