yoga health benefits

Try one yoga session a week to stay healthier, happier, less stressed, and maybe even thinner.

Good move: Study finds that yoga's benefits equal those from other forms of exercise.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—For decades, aerobic exercise—the type that raises your heart and breathing rates, such as running or cycling—has been touted by scientists as the gold standard in terms of the number of health benefits it brings. More energy, improved mood, lower risk of heart disease and certain cancers, better sleep, better thinking, better sex, and on and on. (Which is why Rodale.com recommends it at every opportunity.) But as it turns out, there may be another form of exercise that does even more for you: yoga. And weight control may be at the top of its long list of health benefits.

THE DETAILS: Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Nursing published a comparative analysis of 81 studies that examined yoga's health benefits and the health benefits of aerobic exercise. The researchers found yoga to be especially effective at reducing stress. This may not be news to those who practice yoga, but even die-hard enthusiasts will be surprised at the number of other health benefits yoga can confer—often to a larger degree than aerobic exercise. The researchers found that yoga outperformed aerobic exercise at improving balance, flexibility, strength, pain levels among seniors, menopausal symptoms, daily energy level, and social and occupation functioning, among other health parameters.

Read on to find out whether you should make yoga your own form of exercise.