This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Princeton chapter.
Hello all!
Since it is hard for me to do vigorous exercise in the city without a gym membership, I have been trying to figure out some things to do at home while also balancing my research. My roommate and I are going to (hopefully when our schedules match!) do some yoga at home.
I have only done yoga once in my life…and to be honest, I found it hard and it made me feel self-conscious when I couldn’t do the positions. I am hoping I can learn the basics from my roommate so that it won’t feel as bad when I can’t do something during a class.
I decided that a lot of the exercise I prefer is rigorous and gets the heart rate going…which I like because it makes me feel like I am exercising and actually burning calories. However, I did some reading into yoga and realized what I have been missing out on…check out the top 3 benefits of yoga I put together while reading some articles. Guess who will be attending those Rocky college yoga classes…?
1) Happier outlook on life (essential for those draining reading weeks and midterms weeks)
Doing one hour of asanas—a sequence of standing, sitting and balancing posesóhelped avid posers raise their levels of the brain chemical GABA (low levels are linked with depression) by 27 percent compared with a group who read quietly, a study from Boston University School of Medicine and McLean Hospital reports.
2) Sleep (essential to be a student haha)
Insomniacs fell asleep 15 minutes faster and slept an hour longer each night after two months of doing a 45-minute series of yoga poses daily before bed. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital speculate that regular practice helped people relax, making it easier to switch off.
3) Toning (who likes not being toned?)
Yoga is strength-training because you’re using your body weight to move from posture to posture, and in certain poses you have to lift every pound of it.
