Skeletal system - Yoga benefits

Let's give a look on the benefits of yoga on your bones!

Most is connected to the bone remodelling we examined in the previous post...

In a sedentary life or everytime your bones don't receive enough stimuli they tend to lose strenght, there is a principle always working in our bodies (and more, it's a kind of universal principle)... use it or lose it! Whatever you don't use or move or stimulate... it will tend to perish... imagine your car or motorbike or bike or boat... do you use it? well, you will give it some physiological maintenance but it will last for a long time... if you don't use it and simply leave it there a "decomposition" process will start, the sun, the rain, the wind, nature will break it down in due time... yes, if you protect it in a sterile environment this process will be delayed... but is your body protected in a sterile environment? mmmh... i don't think so, the "use it or lose it" principle will be applied!

In many asanas (yoga postures), specially standing poses, the weight is bearing on our bones in different specific ways and we constantly pull our bones... how? the contraction of muscles generates a force that is translated to tendons, ligaments and bones... this constant action will stimulate your bones to remodel and become stronger... same as muscular training... you use a part of your body and that part, being stimulated, will tend to become stronger... nice equation, isn't it?

Stronger bones means a stronger framework supporting you and obviously a stronger protection for your internal organs... or i could say that your life is more protected when you have strong bones!

There are other indirect factors... you need calcium and minerals to support the skeletal system... you get them from your nutrition... yoga on your body will make everything more efficient, so that the nutrients present in your food will effectively be digested, transformed, transported where necessary and assimilated!

It's really important to eat the right food, it's as much important to have an efficient system that can maximize the effects of the food you eat!

Another benefit comes from the action of yoga on your endocrine system, we'll talk later on this, at the moment consider only the stimulation of your thyroid and parathyroid glands... they secrete hormones deeply involved in bone remodelling, make these glands more efficient and consequently your bones will become stronger!

We can't finish this part without mentioning again osteoporosis, it's the most common degenerating disease for your bones, specially for women in menopause because of the dropping of estrogen production. Yoga will help you to prevent it... if you have a good bone density when you go into menopause you'll have much less problems and if you already have osteoporosis a gentle yoga will help you to slow down this degeneration and to rebuild your strength.