How Yoga Can Help You Lose Weight

Yoga and Weight Loss

These days, people lead busy, and unfortunately, due to convenience, many of us choose fast and unhealthy food options and don’t have the time to exercise.

This type of lifestyle can lead to fast signs of aging and can affect body weight. However, if you have decided to take action and do something about your weight issue and health, you may be looking for a physical activity that you would find enjoyable.

 

How Can Yoga Help You Lose Weight?

 

Yoga is a popular activity that many locals have successfully pursued to improve their physical and mental health and wellness. It offers many benefits, and the good news is that it can also be used for weight loss. However, this is not a cardio-intensive activity, so the benefits to your weight loss efforts are more unique. Have a look:

 

Improving Your Liver Function

One of the primary functions of the liver is to detoxify the blood, and this enhances weight loss in several ways. For example, a healthy liver eliminates unhealthy fats from the body, and it enhances the use of good fats to your benefit. If you are interested in improving your liver function through yoga, there are several great poses that you can use for this purpose, including the cobra pose, the spinal twist, the wheel pose and others.

 

Promoting Thyroid Health

Your thyroid serves the important function of controlling your metabolism, so you can see how promoting thyroid health would impact weight loss efforts. When you promote ideal thyroid health, you may be able to speed up your metabolism for faster weight loss and easier weight control after you have reached your ideal body weight. Just a few of the many poses that are great for improving thyroid health include the fish pose and the shoulder stand.

 

Enhancing Muscle Strength and Tone

You may have heard that a body with greater muscle tone and mass will burn more fat while at rest than a body with minimal muscle tone and mass. This has been scientifically proven, and this means that a primary goal to accomplish with weight loss efforts is to improve muscle tone and strength. Yoga may not be a cardio-intensive activity, but it is great for improving muscle tone. Almost every yoga pose you can do will affect muscle tone and strength.

 

Elevating Your Heart Rate

While yoga generally will not raise your heart rate the way a long jog or a spin session can, it nonetheless can elevate your heart rate for an extended period of time. Most yoga classes are approximately 30 to 60 minutes, and they feature intervals where your heart rate may rise and then lower frequently throughout the session. This is a wonderful way to burn calories without over-stressing the body.

 

Yoga is a wonderful physical activity that can leave you feeling relaxed, and it is commonly used as a means for de-stressing. However, it has many total body health benefits as well, including supporting weight loss efforts.

 

If you are thinking of losing weight, or need to, we advise you to come see us and discuss a healthy approach to weight loss. At Solstice Health, under the supervision of Dr. Murray and his health team, we can ensure you are losing weight properly, and in a healthful manner that will last.

 

Visit us at three locations in Wisconsin – Oconomowoc, New Berlin, or Mequon. Contact us and set-up an appointment to have a free consultation.

 

Contact us today at info@solsticewi.com

The Importance of Sleep in One’s Health

sleep and healthy living

Sleep is an essential part of your health and well-being. It is equally as essential as a healthy diet and
regular exercise. Research shows that getting enough sleep every night helps protect your physical and mental health as well as improve your quality of life. Here at Solstice Health, in Wisconsin, we focus on our patients well-being and overall health.

 

How does sleep help your body?

There are a number of key important outcomes from getting continual, adequate, and restful sleep.

 

Improved mental health

Lack of adequate sleep often leads to forgetfulness, irritability, and tiredness. Restorative sleep helps your brain regenerate and function properly. A good night sleep allows your body to remove dead blood cells and brain cells to clear pathways for newer synapses that help you maintain maximum cognitive brain function.

 

A healthy heart

According to research conducted by the University of Warwick, getting less than 6 hours of sleep over
an extended period increases your chances of heart failure by 48% and suffering from stroke by 15%. This is because sleep deprivation disrupts biological processes like blood pressure, inflammation, and glucose metabolism.

 

Weight

Lack of sleep increases chances of obesity. Sufficient sleep helps your body sustain a healthy balance of the production of the hormones responsible for making you feel hungry and full. When you deprive your body of sleep, it produces more ghrelin which ultimately increases your appetite. If you stay awake for longer hours, your body will need more energy to help you stay up longer. Therefore, you tend to eat more.

 

Immune system

If you consistently skimp on needed rest, the chances are that you fall sick often becomes higher. Sleep deprivation weakens the immune system. It makes you more prone to catching colds and flu. When you sleep, your body creates disease fighting hormones to fight off diseases and infections. Hence, if you do not sleep enough, you restrict your body’s ability to create these substances leaving you more prone to any virus or bacteria you encounter. Recent research also shows that sufficient sleep will help you get more preventative benefits from vaccines.

 

Healthier skin

Sleep is food for your body, brain, and skin. Poor sleep can cause chronic skin conditions and make
your skin age faster. However, when you get sufficient sleep, your body produces new collagen that helps prevent skin sagging, which in turn leads to fewer wrinkles. Also, a good night sleep will give your skin sufficient time to recover from ultra violet light exposure.

 

In case you are experiencing difficulty falling asleep, here are a few tips to help you snooze.

• Adopt a regular sleep/wake cycle
• Avoid alcohol, big meals, and smoking before bedtime
• Exercise regularly
• Do not nap for too long or too late

 

Sleep is a vital part of maintaining overall wellness in so many ways. It can make an enormous impact on the quality of your life. Hence, it is important that you prioritize getting adequate and consistent sleep every night.
For more tips on health maintenance come visit our clinic, we have 3 locations in Wisconsin – Oconomowoc, New Berlin, and Mequon.

At Solstice Health, we focus on preventative, natural, and holistic approaches to good health. Dr. Murray is an expert in many areas, including direct primary care; him and his team can help you feel restful, decrease stress, and be healthy again.

 

Contact us today at info@solsticewi.com