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How Does Yoga Help With Depression

May 19, 2021

According to the Harvard Mental Health Letter, yoga can reduce the impact of stress, help with anxiety & depression, improve energy, & help self-soothe.

Many people choose yoga therapy to help with mental & emotional problems.  Yoga is a very gentle exercise that embraces meditation and controlled, body movements. The focus on deep breathing and stretching your body is effective for relieving the symptoms of depression, such as sleep troubles, pain, and a loss of energy.  As exercise yoga is a natural way to increase serotonin production.  According to the Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, serotonin production plays a role in the treatment of depression.

Yoga also increases heart rate but increasing the relaxation response over the stress response in the body.  A higher change in times between heartbeats means that your body is better at monitoring or adapting to stress.