When a person is diagnosed with high cholesterol he/she is specifically advised to stick to a particular diet plan along with some precise aerobic exercises. Running, cardio, brisk walking is mainly followed by people dealing with high cholesterol. But it is not the only choice.
Besides a strict diet, there are many other exercise options particularly in yoga which provide high-end results in curing and preventing high cholesterol. Along with these benefits, it also improves cardiovascular health, lowers stress, and helps you to indulge in healthy eating habits providing you with the long term sustainable results.
How bad cholesterol affects your body?
Cholesterol is one of the fatty substances we are circulating in our blood. If we’ve got an excessive amount of it, then it can stick within the walls of our arteries, narrowing them and increasing the risk of disorder.
Though, It’s not only the quantity of cholesterol within the blood that affects the risk. Other factors play a vital role. One among those is the sort of protein that carries the cholesterol through the body. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is more likely to cause problems. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol protects the body from cholesterol buildup.
How yoga controls or cures high cholesterol disorder?
As we know about aerobics and weight lifting exercises are mostly recommended to lower the cholesterol level in the blood, it seems odd that yoga would appear in this list of exercises. After all, yoga is usually stretching, right?
Studies show, however, that yoga may reduce the risk of heart disorder. In some cases, it’s going to directly affect cholesterol levels.
Researchers reported within the Indian Heart Journal that a three-month yoga program helped to reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. It also improved HDL cholesterol levels in diabetics. The participants practiced for about one hour each day.
In a large study review published within the Journal of Preventive Cardiology, those that regularly practiced yoga showed significant improvement in LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and vital signs over those that didn’t exercise or practice yoga.
Here is the list of some useful yoga poses to control the levels of bad cholesterol and cure the disorders related to the high level of cholesterol.
Dronasana
Dronasana is a posture during which our body takes the form of a drona or a bowl. It makes the circulation of blood and oxygen around the abdomen and lowers back much faster. Dronasana is perfect for those who wish to reduce belly fat, obesity, cholesterol Besides that, it’s an excellent asana to develop abs. One should start practice with beginner pose and slowly reach a complicated level of this Asana.
Chakrasana
This pose massages the abdominal organs and helps alleviate constipation. It also improves the functioning of the liver and thus, helps get rid of excess fat and cholesterol. This asana helps in enhancing the vitality of the guts. It stimulates the thyroid and pituitary glands and helps in boosting metabolism.
Ustrasana
Ustrasana has many health benefits, among that a number of the health benefits of Ustrasana include complete stretch to the body, stress removal, calming the mind, improved circulation, reduction in fat from the thighs area, improved digestion, strengthened muscles of legs, toes, and keens, helps to get rid of lower back pain, stimulate endocrine glands, prevents constipation, and regular practice of this yoga also helps in weight loss.
Bhujangasana
It not only helps improve your digestion, but also bust stress, and helps relieve upper back pain. Bhujangasana stretches the spine, stimulates the organs in your stomach and abdomen, helps beat stress and fatigue, stimulates the abdominal organs, another intensive for doing this pose is that it gives you a firmer butt by working out the gluteus muscles.
Trikonasana
This asana bends the body to seem like a triangle and thus is named trikonasana. It helps to reduce body weight from sides including back and from the edges of the hip and waist. Reducing the fat from here will help your organs like liver and pancreas to function better. Calf and thigh muscles also are toned.
Ardha matsyendrasana
This sitting half spinal twist helps to massage the abdominal organs. It improves the digestive function and stimulates the liver. It’s named after the yogi Matsyendranath and also goes by the half- king of the fish pose.
Surya Namaskara
Proper exercise and proper rest alongside a diet result in improved insulin sensitivity. Sun salutations that are Surya Namaskara stimulate the alimentary canal by producing the proper essential digestive juices. Thus, you improve your metabolism, which helps you get rid of all toxins and burn all the additional calories lowering your cholesterol levels.
Naukasana
Naukasana helps massage the organs of the whole stomach and abdomen correcting any problems with your digestion, bowel movements, and metabolism. Naukasana also helps bring the health system into balance ensuring that each one of your hormones is released within the right amounts, successively keeping your entire body healthy.
Pranayama
Practice Kapalbhati Shuddhikriya and Anulom Vilom, Bhastrika, and Bhramari Pranayama for 15 to twenty minutes for lowering cholesterol naturally. Those having high cholesterol levels should increase the practice for a half-hour. Within 15 days you’ll definitely see good results. Pranayama can be practiced in the morning or evening also. But should be done on an empty stomach.
Meditation
Meditation is often a useful a part of cardiovascular risk reduction. It is found to produce changes in brain activity. It can also lower your pulse rate , blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen consumption, adrenaline levels, and levels of cortisol, a hormone released in response to stress and anxiety.