#HealthBytes: Here's how hot yoga is different from regular yoga
What's the story
In hot yoga, the room is heated above normal temperature and is usually set between 27°C and 38°C. This form of yoga includes a variety of poses and the heated environment makes it more challenging. While this may cause heat-related illnesses in some people, there are many benefits that can be achieved when it is practiced correctly. Here are a few of them.
Burning hot
Turning up the heat helps burn more calories
There are various yoga asanas that help in losing weight. When these asanas are performed at a high temperature, the heart rate is elevated and there is a spike in the metabolic rate of the body. Any kind of exercise that increases the heart rate will help burn calories and promote weight loss. Hence, hot yoga is a better cardio workout than traditional yoga.
Flexibility
Muscles stretch more when performed in warmer temperatures
Warmer temperatures help the muscles stretch and flex better. The range of motions increases with each pose when performed at a warmer temperature and the muscles stretch better, resulting in better workouts of all the muscles. Yoga is all about stretching, and performing the asanas at warmer temperatures yields better results than when done at a normal room temperature.
Lung capacity
Helps increase the capacity of lungs, more oxygen enters bloodstream
While you might think that working out at a higher temperature can make your breathing stressful, in reality, hot yoga helps increase lung capacity. Taking deep breaths while performing hot yoga forces the lungs to work more and expand beyond their usual capacity. This allows more oxygen to enter the bloodstream and hence leads to an increase in circulation.
Detoxification
Is a good way to detoxify the body
One of the many benefits of hot yoga is that it helps in detoxifying the body. Intense physical activity coupled with high temperature increases the amount of sweat produced by the body and helps to get rid of some toxins. The detoxifying organs like the liver and kidneys also function better and drinking water before the sessions will ensure that these organs function efficiently.