Yoga and It’s Impact On Womens Health
Yoga | Jun 22, 2024

In the modern day’s hustle of career and family life, women often tend to neglect their own health. Since they are the pillars of the family, it is of utmost importance to take care of their health. Otherwise, it affects the quality of life of the women and her family as well.

Due to inadequate physical activity, stress, dietary irregularities, mental health issues, women suffer from a range of health issues like precocious puberty, PCOS, Infertility, menstrual issues to menopausal issues.

For better understanding, women’s health issues can be classified as below –

  • Precocious puberty
  • Menstrual disorders
  • Infertility
  • Pregnancy related issues
  • Menopausal issues

Precocious Puberty, Menstrual disorders, Infertility -

Precocious puberty is early menarche where a girl child starts her first menstruation below the age of 10 years. Menstrual disorders are related to the menstrual problems such as irregular periods, prolonged bleeding, dysmenorrhea etc, due to an underlying cause.  Infertility in females is being unable to conceive even after 1 year of married life. Some of the common causes for these issues excluding hereditary predisposition are improper diet, improper & inadequate sleep, lack of physical exercise, reduced exposure to sunlight, fresh air, fresh water (rich in minerals) and stress.

To handle all these, one can follow Mitahara (Yogic diet), Dynamic yogic practices including stretching asanas, strengthening asanas, pranayamas, relaxation techniques, and meditation.

All the above practices, not only helps in regulating   menstrual cycle and but also brings out hormonal balance. These practices strengthen the pelvic muscles and reduces stress by sympathovagal balance via HPA (Hypothalamo-Pitutary-Adrenal) axis.

Pregnancy related issues

Pregnancy is the time where more care should be given to the expecting mother. Studies have shown that the expecting mother will be more likely to have stress and anxiety in terms of her unborn baby. Hence, along with physical health, mental health should also be given adequate importance.

Yogic practices like Pranayama, Relaxation techniques, Pelvic strengthening asanas, Meditation, Yogic counselling will not only promote positive health & lifestyle but also improves health of the foetus. At the same time the above practices shall also have a good impact during the delivery of the foetus and increases the chances of normal delivery along with managing the stresses of the lady. (Curtis, 2012)

Menopause

Menopause is the natural cessation of menstruation for more than 12 months between the age of 45 – 55 years. Decreased levels of Oestrogen hormone in the body manifests in the form of symptoms like mood swings, irritability, anxiety or depression, sleep issues, hot flushes etc.

To alleviate these symptoms, one can follow yogic diet including more of nuts and seeds (seed cycling) for phytoestrogens and yogic practices like Special sleep technique for sleep issues, pranayama, suryanamaskars, meditation, mantra Chanting, strengthening practices, and relaxation techniques.

Recent trends in Yoga and Women’s health

To understand the recent research findings about the benefits of yoga on women, you may all read the below mentioned research papers -

  • A systematic review on effect of yoga on menstrual disorder showed that there was reduced symptoms of menstrual distress following the Yoga intervention (Oates, 2017)
  • A study in 2012 showed that Yoga improves infertility by reducing stress and increasing the couple’s ability to conceive (Sengupta, 2012)
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis study on Yoga during pregnancy came to a conclusion that practicing yoga during pregnancy will reduce anxiety, depression and perceived stress. It also has the positive effect on mode of birth and duration of labour (Corrigan, 2022)
  • A randomised control trial study in 2022 showed that Yoga significantly reduces the menopausal symptoms and improving the sleep quality (Susanti, 2022)

Conclusion:

Yoga not only takes care of the physical health but also the mental and emotional aspect. It promotes positive health along with improving self-confidence, self-esteem and decision making. Thereby empowering the women. Hence, Yoga should be imbibed from childhood through school curriculum.

References

  • Corrigan, L. (2022). The characteristics and effectiveness of pregnancy yoga interventions: a systematic review and meta analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth.
  • Curtis, K. (2012). Systematic Review Of Yoga For Pregnant Women: Current status and future directions. Evidence based complementary alternative medicine.
  • Oates, J. (2017). The effect of yoga on menstrual disorders: A systematic review. J Altern Complement Med.
  • Sengupta, P. (2012). Challenge of infertility: How protective the yoga therapy is ? Anc Sci Life.
  • Susanti, H. D. (2022). Effects of Yoga on menopausal symptoms and sleep quality across menopause statuses: A randomised controlled trial. Nurs Health Sci.

Dr Gurudatta H K, BNYS, FCRSW, Founder, Anandamaya Wellness Center

Dr Aishwarya P, (BNYS), Intern, S-VYASA University