What's the Benefit of Practicing Yoga?

Yoga Effectiveness Under Clinical Trials
A great number of studies have been done in order to check the benefits of yoga. There are currently more than 1,600 studies being conducted to check the benefits, most have shown that the effects have indeed been good.

Yoga has reportedly been able to increase blood circulation, increase the nutrients supply to the body, and give deep relaxation to its practitioner.
Heart and Blood Circulation
At Menninger Foundation, Kansas, researchers have found that yoga meditation affects the heart and improves blood circulation.


Asthma and Energy

Published in the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet (1990), a study has reported that yoga breathing has been able to reduce the frequency of asthma attack. At the same time, an Oxford study has found that yoga breathing is more effective in restoring energy than relaxation or visualizations.


Stress and Yoga

In a study, rats that were placed in head stands for 1 hour per day and subjected to shocks have been shown to be more adaptable to stressful conditions compared to other that do not. Human beings who practice postures like head stands have also been shown to be more "stress hardy."


Lower Anxiety

Another benefit of yoga is in making you less depressed and calmer. People who practiced yogic meditation have been showed to increase their skin resistance (i.e. felt less stress and strain) by 200 % within only 10 minutes they began to meditate. The anxiety level remained low for long period after the meditation session ended.

Blood and Cholesterol

Yoga has been shown to lower the blood pressure, diminish the accumulated carbon dioxide and relax the mind. At the same time, when used along with dietary change, has been able to reduce cholesterol level by 14 points in 3 weeks.


Arthritis

In British Journal of Rheumatology (1994), yoga has been reported to benefit patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.


Other Problems

Yoga has also been used successfully as an adjunctive therapy for asthma, migraine and cancer. A regular yoga practice has been able to improve the life of people suffering from diabetes by lowering their sugar level.


Psychologically

Because of its psychological benefit, yoga has also been used for drug treatment among prisoners, to help people to stop smoking and to improve job satisfaction.

Nuts and your heart: Eating nuts for heart health

Eating nuts helps your heart by reducing cholesterol.


Eating nuts as part of a healthy diet can be good for your heart. Nuts, which contain unsaturated fatty acids and other nutrients, are a great snack food, too. They're inexpensive, easy to store and easy to take with you to work or school.

The type of nut you eat isn't that important, although some nuts have more heart-healthy nutrients and fats than do others. Walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts — you name it — almost every type of nut has a lot of nutrition packed into a tiny package. If you have heart disease, eating nuts instead of a less healthy snack can help you more easily follow a heart-healthy diet.
Can eating nuts help your heart?

People who eat nuts as part of a heart-healthy diet can lower the LDL, low-density lipoprotein or "bad," cholesterol level in their blood. High LDL is one of the primary causes of heart disease.

Eating nuts reduces your risk of developing blood clots that can cause a fatal heart attack. Nuts also improve the health of the lining of your arteries. The evidence for the heart-healthy benefits of nuts isn't rock solid — the Food and Drug Administration only allows food companies to say evidence "suggests but does not prove" that eating nuts reduces heart disease risk.


What's in nuts that's thought to be heart healthy?

Although it varies by nut, most nuts contain at least some of these heart-healthy substances:


Unsaturated fats.

It's not entirely clear why, but it's thought that the "good" fats in nuts — both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats — lower bad cholesterol levels.


Omega-3 fatty acids.

Many nuts are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are a healthy form of fatty acids that seem to help your heart by, among other things, preventing dangerous heart rhythms that can lead to heart attacks. Omega-3 fatty acids are also found in many kinds of fish, but nuts are one of the best plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids.


Fiber.

All nuts contain fiber, which helps lower your cholesterol. Fiber also makes you feel full, so you eat less. Fiber is also thought to play a role in preventing diabetes.


Vitamin E.

Vitamin E may help stop the development of plaques in your arteries, which can narrow them. Plaque development in your arteries can lead to chest pain, coronary artery disease or a heart attack.


Plant sterols.

Some nuts contain plant sterols, a substance that can help lower your cholesterol. Plant sterols are often added to products like margarine and orange juice for additional health benefits, but sterols occur naturally in nuts.


L-arginine.

Nuts are also a source of l-arginine, which is a substance that may help improve the health of your artery walls by making them more flexible and less prone to blood clots that can block blood flow.