User:Jackiemcdonnell/Yoga as exercise

Health[edit]

Exercise is often viewed as an intense, dreadful type of movement. Working out is seen as an unenjoyable chore to most people. However, by practicing yoga, people can learn to exercise and move intuitively. Yoga, compared to other exercises, promotes a healthy relationship with exercise and the body. In Francesca Latino’s article, “Effects of an 8-Week Yoga Based Physical Exercise Intervention on Teachers’ Burnout,” the effects of yoga on the mental and emotional well-being of a group of teachers were explored. Latino explains that the results of this study show that the 8-week yoga exercise intervention program significantly helped teachers attain a greater awareness of their emotions and body sensations and improved professional burnout symptoms” (Latino). The effect on teachers was an improvement of emotional and bodily awareness. Symptoms of burnout were also greatly reduced. Improving mental health is critical in society today, as stress and anxiety are often ignored. The results of yoga can appear to have an immense impact on one’s mental health. The teachers in this study could now do their jobs more efficiently after practicing yoga. This same study showed results of self-reliance, mental clarity, self-knowledge, and self-care. (Latino). The article, “Yoga therapy as an add on treatment in the management of patients with schizophrenia – a randomized trial,” G Duraiswamy from the Department of Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, conducts a yoga study on patients. In addition to their antipsychotics, the patients were either treated with yoga or exercise therapy for four months. Duraiswamy reported that those in the yoga group “had significantly less psychopathology, and better social and occupational functioning and quality of life than those in the exercise group” (Duraiswamy). Shown by this study, yoga has been proven to improve a schizophrenic patient's quality of life.