Take your health into your own hands

Take your health into your own hands

Take your health into your own hands

Mindfulness and Yoga: an exercise for physical and mental well-being

The concept of Mindfulness has already been extensively analyzed and covered in previous articles on our portal. In general, it will suffice for us to mention here that the practice of Mindfulness indicates a whole range of activities aimed at achieving physical and mental well-being. It is an approach to life in which the concepts of mindfulness and awareness of one’s existence are brought to the forefront, an analysis aimed at analyzing all the moments of our daily life, avoiding distractions and misleading thoughts that can divert our attention from what we are doing ( whether it is actual exercise or more common practices such as a walk, a meal and even breathing). One of the exercises in the Mindfulness program, and one that plays a role of great importance, is certainly Yoga.

Yoga and the body

Yoga is undoubtedly an activity that has become widely popular throughout the world in the past decade and has immediately attracted the interest of many individuals of all age groups and genders. It is a series of physical exercises designed to bring the individual to a state of profound physical and mental well-being (literally the word yoga means precisely union of body and mind). Regarding the first aspect, Yoga is most useful for improving the elasticity of our body’s muscles and joints; in addition, the stretching of muscles that is accomplished during the practice, combined with breathing, promotes oxygenation of the body, facilitating the elimination of toxins.

Yoga and the mind

As mentioned in the previous passage, yoga is a practice that also aims at the well-being of our mind. Through the attention that it is necessary to apply while performing the exercises in the various postures, yoga allows for increased concentration and is also instrumental in increasing awareness, a very important element in interrupting, or at least diminishing, the effects of that vicious cycle in which we all live and which culminates in the stress.

Just as in the practice of Mindfulness, attention also plays a key role in yoga. Throughout the performance of the exercises, in fact, attention must be paid to each and every movement of the body and also and especially to breathing, a fundamental component of yoga. According to the Mindfulness approach, the ideal would be to do 20 to 45 minutes of exercise a day, every day, varying the sequences so as to cover the full range of exercises within a week.

The help that comes from yoga improves breathing

In our experimental studies, we observed that subjects who have been practicing Yoga for a long time easily tend to breathe more slowly. Many practitioners spontaneously adopt the three-stage breath, which, on inhalation, mobilizes first the diaphragm, then the lower chest and then the higher chest. These people, when they breathe oxygen-poor air, are able to maintain relatively little increased ventilation, but at the same time they take in more oxygen, unlike non-practitioners who must ventilate much more to achieve the same result.

Yoga practitioners therefore have greater ventilatory efficiency and have a marked reduction in the stimulus to ventilate induced by oxygen deficiency. We have also observed this phenomenon in Himalayan populations, an example of effective adaptation to the lack of oxygen present at high altitude, who seem to spontaneously adopt this type of three-stage breathing. We have also observed that yoga practitioners, probably as a result of training, tend to maintain this characteristic over time.

A confirmation of this reasoning comes from our observation of the mountaineers on the recent 50th anniversary expedition to conquer K2. The climbers who reached the summit without the need for oxygen had far less ventilation before they started their final ascent than those who, on the other hand, did not reach the summit or who had to use oxygen to reach it.

The practical consequences of these studies could be important. Yoga practice over time produces an improvement in breath efficiency, reducing ventilatory stimuli and improving control of the circulatory system, with a reduction in sympathetic activity and an increase in vagal tone. In heart failure, for example, both of these factors are very important. Therefore, it seems useful to combine breath control techniques with traditional drug therapy.

By Luciano Bernardi – Department of Internal Medicine, IR
CCS S. Matteo, University of Pavia

Twelve valid reasons to practice yoga

Some people do it to relax after work or to learn how to react better to stress, who to keep muscles toned and flexible the joints without too much effort. Some people do it to improve balance and control of posture and those who simply because they like it. As the its practice has spread and the proposed variants have diversified, the reasons for practicing yoga have multiplied and it is no longer even necessary to share the philosophical principles behind it in order to derive the many beneficial effects it can have on the body and mind. Are you thinking of try it too? Here are some good reasons to equip yourself with a mat and translate in practice intentions.

Yoga: how to relax in 12 moves

In recent decades, the yoga has practically conquered the Western world, coming in many variations and promising, depending on the case, to relax and relieve stress, promote mental and physical balance, help cope more calmly with life events and sleep better, and keep joints more mobile and muscles in shape. All, without making much effort. A true panacea that usually rewards those who practice it with conviction, assiduously. If you are curious to try it out, before signing up for an actual class, you can try your hand at these
simple exercises suitable for everyone
(or almost).

NUTRITION AND DIET
 
NATURE, SPORTS, PLACES
 
CULTIVATING HEALTH
 
MENOPAUSE
 
MOM IN SHAPE
 
TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE
 
HEART SURGERY
 
MEDICINES AND MEDICAL DEVICES
 
PARENTING
 
THE CULTURE OF HEALTH
 
HEALTH UTILITIES
 
GENERAL MEDICINE
 
NATURAL MEDICINE, THERMAL
 
MIND AND BRAIN
 
NEUROVEGETATIVE DYSTONIA
 
WAYS OF BEING
 
HEALTH AND SOCIETY
 
HEALTHCARE AND PATIENTS
 
SEXUALITY
 
OLDER AGE
 
CANCERS
 
EMERGENCIES
 
NUTRITION AND DIET
 
NATURE, SPORTS, PLACES
 
CULTIVATING HEALTH
 
MENOPAUSE
 
MOM IN SHAPE
 
TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE
 
HEART SURGERY
 
MEDICINES AND MEDICAL DEVICES
 
PARENTING
 
THE CULTURE OF HEALTH
 
HEALTH UTILITIES
 
GENERAL MEDICINE
 
NATURAL MEDICINE, THERMAL
 
MIND AND BRAIN
 
NEUROVEGETATIVE DYSTONIA
 
WAYS OF BEING
 
HEALTH AND SOCIETY
 
HEALTHCARE AND PATIENTS
 
SEXUALITY
 
OLDER AGE
 
CANCERS
 
EMERGENCIES
 
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
 
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
 
UROGENITAL SYSTEM
 
HEART AND CIRCULATION
 
SKIN
 
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
 
EYES
 
EARS, NOSE, AND THROAT
 
BONES AND LIGAMENTS
 
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
 
NERVOUS SYSTEM
 
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
 
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
 
UROGENITAL SYSTEM
 
HEART AND CIRCULATION
 
SKIN
 
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
 
EYES
 
EARS, NOSE, AND THROAT
 
BONES AND LIGAMENTS
 
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
 
NERVOUS SYSTEM
 

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