Anxious? Stressed? This Is The Exercise You Should Be Doing
Whether you’re team pilates or team yoga (or simply team couch), you can’t argue with this: “accumulating evidence” indicates that yoga can reduce chronic stress.
It’s also useful in treating anxiety, depression, insomnia and a host of other mental health conditions, says Dr Jonathan Greenberg, a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital’s department of psychiatry, Byrdie reports.
“We know that accumulating evidence shows yoga is good for your body, health and mind,” Dr Greenberg says in a report into yoga’s effect on the brain by NBC.
So just how many downward dogs do you have to do to reap yoga’s benefits? Dr Greenberg suggests 40 minutes a day is the sweet spot for significant stress reduction, according to his research.
Don’t take it from Dr Greenberg alone – none other than the Duchess of Sussex is a fan of the practice, telling Best Health magazine: “Yoga is my thing.”
“My mom is a yoga instructor, and I started doing mommy-and-me yoga with her when I was seven,” Markle explains. “I was very resistant as a kid, but she said, ‘Flower, you will find your practice – just give it time.’ In college, I started doing it more regularly.”
And she’s all the proof of yoga’s benefits that we need.
