International Yoga Day: Yoga to assist your heart healthy regimes

Experts explain how pumping up with cardio and cooling down with yoga provides tripartite heart benefitsThe European Journal of Preventive Cardiology through a review of Yoga and cardiovascular diseases indicates that apart from helping one feel calmer and more balanced yoga helps lower heart disease risk as much as conventional exercises such as brisk walkingYoga is long known to be more than just a stretch or breath as it helps improve the flexibility of joints and increases core muscle strength thus in turn improving onersquos capacity of performing aerobic exercises like jogging running swimming cycling etcA very important criterion for determining onersquos heart age is ones fitness level Physical activity is of great importance in maintaining ones cardiovascular health Maintaining optimal heart health involves1 Increasing muscle mass by weight training on alternate days2 Burning calories with aerobic exercises3 Keeping the mind and body supple with yogaldquoWhile cardio and weight training work to rev up your heart rate and build muscle mass yoga as a complementary practice can assist in preventing or managing heart disease A combination of adequate weight training aerobics and yoga work wonders in improving onersquos heart healthrdquo says Dr Vijay Drsquosilva Director Medical Affairs and Critical Care Asian Heart InstituteldquoAll three go together and one cannot replace the other Yoga helps as a supplementary practice and isnrsquot a replacementrdquo he addsAsanas such as the Padangusthasana Big Toe Pose Janu Sirsasana A HeadtoKnee Forward Bend Supta Padangusthasana Reclining Big Toe Pose and Setu Bandha Sarvangasana Bridge Pose are 4 poses that assist in maintaining ones heart healthldquoFor those who do active yoga such as hatha yoga the split can be 40 yoga and 30 of aerobics and weight training while for those who perform simple yoga techniques the split can be 30 for yoga and 35 of the other two regimesrdquo says Dr Santoshkumar Dora Senior Cardiologist of the Asian Heart InstituteYoga being applicable as a treatment to many conditions this International Yoga Day letrsquos look at how yogarsquos benefits can now extend to onersquos heart6 ways Yoga helps your heart It decreases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that cause increased heart rate and blood pressure which is detrimental to the heartIt helps decrease blood cholesterol counts7 hours of sleep is the minimum requirement for good cardiovascular health yoga helps your muscles relax assisting one in acquiring sound sleep As yoga is less strenuous it can be a good addition to cardiac rehabilitation which can help people recover from a heart attack or heart surgeryThe Framingham Study was one of the first pieces of evidence to show that people with diabetes are more vulnerable to heart disease Gentle muscle stretches while performing yoga makes the muscles more sensitive to insulin helping control blood sugar thus safeguarding your heart from diabetes driven heart diseaseIn the case of smokers considering the fact that smoking is one of the biggest factors of coronary artery disease yoga is instrumental in helping smokers quit smoking