As young adults, college students build up stress from school, classes, family matters, friends, and social situations. Without a release of this stress, your body will take a toll. Pent up stress can lead to many physical and psychological effects that are bound to frustrate you even more. The most common of these side effects include headaches, muscle aches, nausea, insomnia, and difficulty concentrating. It’s extremely important to find a way to release the stress of day-to-day life.

Yoga is a practice of uniting the mind and physical body as one. It combines breathing exercise, meditation, and physical positions. This combination is believed to reduce many physical and mental ailments that are caused by stress. Multiple studies have shown that yoga can reduce back pain, lower heart rate and blood pressure, relieve several psychological conditions, and improve physical fitness and flexibility. An NCCAM-funded study of 90 people concluded that chronic lower-back and depression significantly decreased after six months of practice. Even more interesting is that a 2011 study of 313 adults had less lower-back pain after 12 weekly yoga classes than they did from typical medical care.

 

Yoga is offered at a number of places in State College, including several times a week at the White Building (with a gym membership), and at the Student Health Center (Tuesday and Thursday evenings). Since there are many types of yoga being practiced, it is important to be familiar with what to expect and to be realistic about your physical limits.

http://www.stress.org/stress-effects/

http://www.lululemon.com/education/yoga/

http://nccam.nih.gov/health/yoga/introduction.htm