What Are The Benefits Of Hot Yoga Classes?
Why You Should Do Hot Yoga
You may have heard a lot about Hot Yoga Classes, but have yet to try a class, or perhaps even feel a little intimidated about giving something new a go. What you may not be aware of, however, is the vast amount of benefits you can reap from having not only a consistent Hatha (Basic/Classical) yoga practice, but how, here at Fast Twitch, practicing in our gently warmed deluxe yoga room, will deliver you results you may not have felt you could achieve previously. To learn more about why our hot yoga classes are different, let’s dive in…
At Fast Twitch, our Adelaide based hot yoga classes incorporate far-infrared panels to bring the same heat to the room that you may expect to experience in our infrared sauna. It is a dry heat that doesn’t raise the ambient temperature of the room in the same way traditional central heating does. This is good for two reasons. Firstly, by the law of physics we all know that hot air rises upward. In a traditional hot yoga studio, central heating methods are often used and this tends to create a thick, oppressive heat that sits up the top of the room, felt most intensely during the standing postures of the class and when it comes to the seated portion of poses, it’s a lot colder down below. As our studio is heated using lightwave technology, the heat is more evenly distributed, with a lower all round temperature, making it far more comfortable to breathe and move.
If you’re looking for great moves to practice during your next hot yoga class, check out our list of the top 10 yoga poses for flexibility.
How Does Infrared Heat Work?
Infrared is actually an invisible light spectrum, meaning that anything within distance of the beam of light will feel the heat. For example, the Sun is the main source of infrared heat that we all know (and love!) and these wavelengths work by penetrating the body deeply and raising your internal core temperature. The effect of this penetration is that infrared light works on bodily tissues to promote healing. Studies have shown infrared light to accelerate the healing of soft tissue damage, as well as skin wounds, improve the rate of muscle growth, increase blood circulation, accelerate recovery of muscle function after exercise, improve glucose tolerance in obese individuals, lessen chronic muscle and joint pain, decrease pain, fatigue, inflammation and oxidative stress. And these are just SOME of the reported benefits!
In general, all the evidence suggests you cannot go wrong by developing a regular yoga practice. Studies have shown that yoga enhances muscular strength and body flexibility, improves respiratory, cardiac and vascular function, promotes recovery from and treatment of addiction, reduces stress, anxiety, symptoms of depression, and chronic pain, improves sleep patterns, and enhances overall well-being and quality of life. Not bad a return for simply moving one’s body, no equipment required!
In a very popular study it was shown that an increase in heat was not necessary to achieve the base results mentioned above. This means that you can expect some or all of these positive benefits purely from having a consistent Hatha yoga practice at room temperature alone. However, the same study also showed that overall body fat decreased in the participants that practiced Hatha yoga in a heated room versus the results found by the regular room temperature Hatha yoga group. Therefore, this suggests that if your goals include fat loss; a minimum of three hot yoga classes per week will likely help you get closer to your goal weight when compared to regular yoga. The minimum of three yoga classes every week was also very specific, with evidence suggesting the same level of benefit was not seen at only one or two times per week. The minimum threshold of three classes per week also demonstrated a significant increase in participants’ heart health.
How does hot yoga benefit the body?
The main mechanism by which far infrared light positively impacts health is through the creation of Heat Shock Proteins in the body.
Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs) are responsible for cellular repair. The ability of your system to repair DNA damage is essential and without this broken cells with abnormalities would be allowed to stay in the body where they have the potential to become cancerous and spread. A single bout of heat stress (like sauna) has also shown to be able to increase muscle mass by improving muscle protein synthesis in your cells.
Infrared exposure, either through using specialised Saunas or through Hot Yoga that uses infrared paneling, develops HSPs in the body so they can scan your cells looking for broken proteins to remove before they become problematic.
Heat shock proteins have been shown to prevent and slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, slow human muscle atrophy, and are associated with human longevity.
Another reason for combining heat stress (infrared) with exercise (yoga) is the increase in Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor or BDNF. This protein promotes the growth of new neurons in the brain and nervous system, which used to be thought of as impossible! It also plays a role in muscle repair and the growth of new muscle cells.
Lastly, let’s talk about sweat bay-bee… A meta analysis of 24 studies demonstrated that although the liver and kidneys are responsible for detoxification, when these are overloaded (like what often occurs in modern living) the body will utilise sweat channels to secrete build up of toxic heavy metals in the blood. Although sweating is not an indication of a good workout, it is an avenue for enhanced detoxification. Data suggest that sweat levels are highest during feats of endurance more so than bouts of intensity, as sweating exists primarily as a cooling mechanism to keep you going.
If you are able to section out some quiet time, book in a 30-minute sauna using the Fast Twitch app right now, otherwise, if you’re more inclined to save time by “stacking your life” aka hitting multiple goals at once, Hot Yoga is a fantastic way to get all the benefits of an infrared sauna in less time, by stacking your workout with your infrared therapy. How good!
During your hot yoga journey, you make have also come across Bikram yoga. Bikram yoga and hot yoga are different, and are not to be confused.
If you like the sound of our hot yoga, check out our other Yoga Classes.
Benefits of Hot Yoga Classes
Stress reduction
Reduced Anxiety
Reduced Depression symptoms
Muscle and joint flexibility
Core strength
Improved stability and balance
Enhanced mindfulness
Manages Back Pain
Lowered inflammation
Improved Heart Health
Improved Bone Density & Muscular Strength
Benefits of Infrared
Better sleep
Enhanced relaxation
Detoxification
Weight loss
Relief from sore muscles
Relief from joint pain such as Arthritis
Clear and tighter skin
Improved circulation
Help for people with chronic fatigue syndrome
Improved glucose tolerance