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Yoga is a great practice for the maturing body
Yoga Moment with Heidi Pfleger
Yoga is an ideal practice for Seniors as it offers many benefits for the ‘maturing’ body.
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Let’s take a look at a few benefits you can expect:
1. Improved Sleep Habits – If you sleep well, consider yourself fortunate as many people don’t. If you aren’t so fortunate, yoga may be even more ideal for you! The guided relaxation, deepened breathing and meditation practices help to calm your mind which creates a better night’s sleep and a more energetic day ahead
2. Mental Clarity – If you are finding yourself forgetting things or if you have having difficulty focusing, yoga might very well be for you! Balance poses and meditation practices require concentration. Both help to improve mental clarity and cognition. In other words, yoga can help to keep your mind sharp and improve your memory
3 Improved Balance, Strength and Flexibility – The natural effects of aging leave seniors at a higher risk for falling. In fact, the Canadian Institute for Health Information reported in 2019 that 4 out of 5 injury hospitalizations involving seniors were due to falls. That is a staggering statistic! Practicing yoga is an excellent way to reduce your risk of falling as the slow, mindful movements stretch and strengthen your body It also creates more flexibility, which helps to protect you if you do happen to slip and fall.
4. Stronger Bones and Reduced Joint Pain – Getting up and out of bed isn’t as easy now as when we were 20 and it is not uncommon nowadays to discover you have osteoporosis once you hit 50 or 60. The reality is that, as we age, our bones lose density and our joints start to become stiff. While there is no getting around that, a gentle yoga practice can help slow down the loss of bone density and relieve joint pain.
5 It Slows Down the Aging Process – Yes, it’s true! And, if we all knew this, we would have started doing yoga decades sooner! The aging process typically causes changes in the heart and blood vessels.
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There’s plenty of health benefits for seniors who want to explore Yoga. It not only helps your physical strength, balance and endurance but also your mental strength as the body matures.
