Yoga After 50 – Benefits of an Active Lifestyle

Doing yoga is usually associated with young people with a slender figure, who (at least in the advertisements) don’t seem to have problems with doing any of the poses. This can be discouraging for people who may have thought about taking up yoga classes. A large number of people who are 50 and above automatically assume that they are either too old to even think about it or that their bodies are not flexible enough.

As it usually happens, this is a false belief, and it can be proved. Many older people, even deep into their seventh and eighth decade do manage to perform well in their yoga classes, sometimes even with less trouble than the younger, more active people.

If you belong to this somewhat reluctant group of fifty-something and you are having second thoughts about signing up for yoga, the best thing to do is to go out and actually try it out. You might be surprised with how many benefits yoga can have for middle-aged people. Let’s take a look at some of them!

Bones and muscles

As we age, our bones begin changing their structure, the flexibility of the muscles decreases, and our skin loses its elasticity. Practicing yoga, with all the moves and poses can change this dramatically.

In terms of improving the quality of bones, yoga can help in shifting the pressure to the other parts of the body and distributing it more evenly.

Another way to reduce the pressure on your bones is by strengthening the muscles. For example, strengthening your arm muscles directly improves the condition of your skin, making it tighter and even eliminating or straightening the wrinkles.

Overall health

Being physically active is important when we are young, but we should pay special attention to it in some later years. With a regular physical activity, not only do we improve the strength of our muscles and skin, as earlier said, but also, and even more importantly, our health can benefit immensely.

Yoga, in particular, improves one’s heart function and blood pressure. It also has a positive effect on breathing, digestion, even cognitive functions.

Sex

It is known for a fact that with a certain age, people start changing, and often losing the abilities for certain activities that are very important for life. One of these, an essential one, is sex. It may happen that women during and after menopause experience changes in their libido and the quality of sex life, while men go through similar problems, with erectile dysfunctions and performance.

Great news is that by doing yoga, you can change this for the better. In a several research programs conducted in more than one examination center, it was almost unanimously proven that people who do yoga experience a positive change, in duration, satisfaction, and the overall sensation.

Social life and yoga

Usually, centers for practicing yoga have several levels and different groups. Nowadays, there are more and more places like this which organize a group with a special program for people of a certain age, including those who are 50 and older.

By joining this type of yoga group, you’ll have the chance to meet people of your age with whom you may share certain interests. You may even find a lifelong friend there.

There are many people over 55 living their life to the fullest in luxury retirement communities where you can enjoy the lifestyle, activities, and the living area with your peers, choosing all the details, such as the house, its size and design, as well as pools and different sports activities.

As you can see, opting for some yoga classes even if you’re over fifty is by no means a bad and impossible idea. On the contrary, it has numerous benefits, both for your health and social life.