Summer is in the air, but that doesn’t mean to stop the fitness journey. Outside temperatures do not affect your heated workouts or hot yoga practices. If you’re interested to perform heated workout to sweat more than usual, you can do it in a Bikram Yoga Session. You can do heated workouts anywhere, maybe in a studio with temperatures ranging from toasty 80 degrees Fahrenheit to more than 100 degree Fahrenheit. You may find something satisfactory about heated workouts, that is sweat drops rolling down your skin and making your face red with extraordinary glow. But the question is, do the heated workouts prove good for everyone?
Experts who are proponents of Bikram yoga suggest it is better for heart health. They say heated workouts and hot yoga practices help in weight loss. However, according to critics, there is no science backed evidence to confirm such benefits, related to heated workouts.
Studies show that Bikram Yoga is another name of “hot yoga” which is the effective way to sweat through exercise. The hot yoga practice in a heated room is a popular workout technique that makes you more active and committed to your workout regimen. Hot yoga practices are apparently continuing to grow in popularity around the world, in the past few years.
According to a 2018 survey report, an astounding 46 million people in the country practice different forms of yoga as their workout regimen. In this large number of yoga lovers, 70% are women participants, between the ages of 40 to 50 while the remaining percentage is linked with men of the same age group.
However, there is no valid information about how many yoga practitioners actually perform hot yoga. But research shows that hot yoga practices provide great enjoyment while sweating.
According to a recent study, Bikram Yoga class actually consists of a fixed series of traditional poses in a 90-minutes duration.
What is Hot Yoga?
People, in the past, used to interchange hot yoga and Bikram yoga but the research has proved that these two terms are totally different in their meaning and execution. Bikram yoga is not an actual form of yoga. A trained yogi had developed this form of yoga that is performed in a room having a high temperature. The temperature of the room is set on 40 to 45 degree Celsius with 40 percent humidity. Practitioners perform a minimum of 20 poses and do three breathing exercises in a session.
On the other hand, hot yoga is practiced in a room with slightly higher temperature than room temperature. The heat in this room is set according to the instructor’s command, but generally it is between 30 to 35 degree Celsius. This yoga class includes a variety of poses and its time also varies according to the poses. Hot yoga also involves music and other recreational interactions.
Analytical studies showed that Bikram yoga was the most popular yoga in the early years of its beginning but with the passage of time it lost its popularity and it lost its followers in recent years due to assault allegations against its founder. So, pay attention to class description carefully before signing up with a yoga session because some studios have changed their title of “Bikram yoga” with Hot Yoga to describe their heated workout classes.
Hot Yoga Instruction Style
Critics say that hot yoga is the style of instruction. Most yoga classes, including hot ones, encourage the practitioners to take things at their own pace, which Bikram instructors usually don’t. Studies show that teachers trained at hot yoga classes generally follow a script. This script includes the calling for them to encourage the new yoga practitioners to stretch further into their poses and to stop leaving the room when they experience overwhelmed feelings due to heat.
However, instructors make efforts to keep students in the yoga studio. Experts say that rational mindfulness encourages the students to accept their feelings rather than escape them. Mindfulness is the effective way to handle psychological stress.
However, hot yoga instructors sometimes, try to urge the desire of more in the people that make it difficult for the people to listen to their bodies during a heated workout. When you’re directed too much, it may be difficult to recognize the limits and you continue to go deeper and deeper.
Are there any Health Benefits associated with Hot Yoga?
Heated workouts or hot yoga practices may have some health benefits that affect your physical and mental health. According to studies, these workouts help enhance your muscle flexibility, increase in blood flow and warming of muscles. In addition, these workouts also prevent injuries potentially and reduce stiffness.The elevated temperatures during these heated workouts also boost cardiovascular demands and help burn more calories than a standard workout at a regular temperature.
However, experts suggest that heat only doesn’t ensure the best fitness results. Proficiency in technique, consistency and overall physical effort also needed to achieve the goal. Heated workouts help add intensity in your workout regimen, but it doesn’t mean that turning up the thermostat can automatically turn up your fitness gain. You need to sweat smartly not just profusely to get better and safe results. Hated yoga practices release endorphins that boost your mental activity which ultimately results in relaxation similar to the effects of sitting in a sauna. However, still there is not enough evidence that can prove that the heated workouts are enough for fitness or health goals.
Some experts also suggest that heated workouts help reduce exercise intensity leading to limiting the quality and benefits associated with them. Working out in a hot environment also increases physiological stains. Contrary to this, regular exercises and mindful workouts in stable temperature can offer more sustainable and approachable health benefits.
Benefits of Hot Yoga with Science Backed Evidences
Hot yoga and Bikram yoga both target the provision of relaxation of mind and improvement of physical health, regardless of room temperature. Yoga practice becomes more challenging in a heated room. But it also has some benefits, especially if you want to make progress in some of the following areas of your physical and mental health. Doing hot yoga correctly can benefit you in the following ways:
Improves Bone Density
Hot yoga not only supports your body weight but also increases your bone density to a great extent. This benefits the older adults and premenopausal women because bone density declines with age. Studies found that premenopausal women who performed yoga for 2 to 3 years consecutively have experienced an increased bone density in lower back, neck and hips. This evidence compels the researchers to believe that hot yoga or Bikram yoga can help reduce osteoporosis risk in older women.
Nourishes your Skin
The main objective of hot yoga is definitely, more sweating. Sweating in a warm environment improves your blood circulation and the supply of oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood to your skin. Thus your skin gets nourished properly.
Boosts Cardiovascular Health
Practicing different yoga poses in a heated environment can help improve your heart health along with muscular and lungs health. More challenging workouts also ensure more heart pumping at the same rate as a brisk walk. Studies show that hit yoga also revs up your metabolism along with respiration.
Reduces Blood Glucose Levels
Although every physical activity or strenuous exercise helps reduce the glucose levels in your bloodstream, hot yoga poses are more effective for the people who are at dangerous risk of type 2 diabetes. This type of yoga also helps burn energy and calories at higher rates. Studies suggested that a hot yoga class improves glucose tolerance in older people with obesity but it is less effective on young adults.
Burns More Calories
All yoga poses help burn calories but turning up the temperatures can increase the amount of burnt calories. Studies showed that a heated workout can increase the calorie burning around 350 in women and 3450 in men during a one and half hour hot yoga practice class. Hot yoga can burn more calories than traditional yoga, researchers said.
Reduces Stress
Yoga is the natural way to reduce stress. Studies suggested that inactive adults experienced that hot yoga helps them reduce their stress significantly. Reduction in stress ultimately results in improvement in their health-related quality of life. This improvement enhances your control and covers your social interactions and behavior with other people.
Safety Concerns about Hot Yoga
Weight Loss And Hot Yoga
Studies do not show any dangerous aspect of hot yoga practices. A large number of people participate in Bikram, but they don’t have any health issues apparently.
Experts say that hot yoga is not all about vigorous physical activity. So you should perform some gentle physical activities at higher temperature. You should avoid vigorous activity at such a high temperature. Many side effects can be avoided by following this tip. Caloric tally of hot yoga is one of its major important points. According to studies, hot yoga can burn only 1000 calories in a 90-minute session. This half of the some vigorous activities that are performed at normal temperature.
However, critics still consider it as a primary form of exercise. Experts do not prefer hot yoga to promote higher calorie burn rate for weight loss. Several examples are found where the practitioners get disappointed whether they went for weight loss.
In addition, a recent study has concluded that stretches and poses included in heated workouts actually benefit the participant, not heated environment.
Stretching Physical Boundaries
Some yoga practitioners like the hot-yoga sweat-soaked rooms because it makes them more flexible and energetic. The experts are still working to find out the reality of whether this flexibility is useful of harmful for the people. Some experts say that the flexibility caused by sweat-soaked rooms may be an invitation to injuries. Some critics say that pushing the new practitioners further in such a hot temperature, can cause injury. A critic added that he had an injury while doing hot yoga poses. Thus, it is concluded that when you don’t listen to your body you select a way to injure yourself because you overstretch.
A 2019 study involving 20 people, who practiced hot yoga for two months consecutively, found that the participants injured themselves because they overstretched themselves.
A famous hot yoga devotee named Russel suggested that heat is the major factor to increase flexibility but she also said that overstretching is not a good thing about heated workouts. According to her, when you overstretch yourself during a hit yoga session, you’re going to harm yourself.
However, opponents said that injuries can occur in all forms of yoga but they are usually mild in nature. There was a rash of injuries at hot yoga studios. Studies confirmed that there is no additional benefit associated with hit yoga that is not gained in conventional yoga practices.
According to researchers at Group Health Research Center, people shouldn’t use hot yoga to seek yoga for health benefits. In addition, a small number of people like to perform yoga practices in such a heated environment. Physiologists and physical trainers advised to avoid performing any physical exercise in hot temperatures. They suggested avoiding it for safety purposes.
Moreover, people, when, start it, they feel better. That’s great but with the time they get damaged themselves, that’s the problem with heated workouts. So when you come to hot yoga for any reason, listen to your body keenly. After listening to your body, you should decide whether you want to stay where or want to move on to any other choice.
Conclusion
Heated workouts may nor be suitable for everyone. Similarly hot yoga may cause some health risks for some people. However, if you find traditional yoga insufficient to meet your training needs and searching for a more effective way to reduce your body fat, you can try hot yoga. It offers a vast range of benefits for your mind and body. It helps you burn more calories, boost your heart health, and reduces stress. Experts still don’t have enough evidence to prove beneficial impacts of hot yoga. Therefore, experts and researchers are trying to find more science based evidence to verify these benefits.
