Health benefits of Yoga on PCOS

Health benefits of Yoga on PCOS

Yoga is a form of holistic medicine that was developed thousands of years ago. Yoga helps unite the mind, body and spirit. It helps create balance, strength, flexibility along with mindfulness.

Women with PCOS are encouraged to engage in exercise on a daily basis as it helps manage and balance hormones along with insulin and blood sugar levels. Both aerobic and weight training are recommended for women with pcos. However, in recent times, it has been proven that yoga not only helps in maintaining physical health but also aids in mental wellbeing by reducing anxiety, regulating hormones, menstrual cycle and metabolic parameters.

Here are three biggest health benefits of yoga for women with PCOS:

Reduces Anxiety:

Those who practice yoga on a regular basis are aware about the benefits of it in reducing stress and anxiety. Yoga helps provide calmness to the mind and it has a soothing effect on the sympathetic nerve activity.

Anxiety is common among women with PCOS and yoga helps provide an effective and non-aggressive treatment for women with the condition to control it. As per the study published in the International Journal of Yoga, it is found that 10-12 weeks of a complete yoga program in young girls with PCOS was appreciably better than a physical exercise program in reducing symptoms of anxiety.

Improves Hormonal Issues:

Yoga has been proven to benefit women with PCOS by not only lowering anxiety but also regulating the sex hormones and menstrual cycle. A study published by the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that adolescent girls with PCOS who engaged in a complete yoga program that involves one hour of daily yoga for 10-12 weeks showed significant improvement in anti-müllerian hormone, luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone levels. The girls who practiced yoga daily also saw improvements in menstrual frequency.

Improves Metabolic Markers

It is believed that yoga also has a positive impact on cholesterol and insulin levels in women with PCOS. Yoga was found to be considerably more effective than traditional physical exercises in improving lipid, glucose and insulin resistance values among the girls with PCOS who practiced different varieties of yoga on a regular basis.

Yoga provides several health benefits to women with PCOS and is definitely worth a try if you have not done it before. Yoga can be practiced anywhere and at little to no cost. There are many different ‘asanas’ or positions in yoga ranging from simple to difficult poses.

Tips for Beginners: