Hot Yoga Heals From the Inside Out
You know that feeling after a yoga class. It’s blissful. Like you’re floating, content, and probably drenched in sweat. It may be hard to pinpoint exactly what motivates you to keep coming back because it’s hard to narrow it down to just one reason. Maybe it’s that sense of satisfaction that you’ve accomplished something. Maybe it’s that sense of relaxation that comes from the heat, or connecting your breath to movement, or that especially deep savasana at the end. Maybe it’s a sense of community from sweating together in class. Or maybe it’s feeling good in your body after moving and stretching in every direction with no distractions. Whatever it is, you feel better, and it turns out that you’re far from alone.
Being stronger and more flexible are only a few of the obvious physical benefits of yoga that we know and love. But the positive impact on mood and stress are hard to ignore. Mental health is a fundamental part of our overall health, and it gets a boost from doing hot yoga.
Scientific studies prove yoga’s effectiveness
Not so surprisingly, a recent study found that hot yoga helps in treating depression. Research from Harvard Medical School’s Massachusetts General Hospital found that 44% of yoga participants went into remission from depression after practicing yoga weekly for just eight weeks. That number grew to 59% for those with a significant reduction in their symptoms of depression.
While the study specifically focused on the impact of heated yoga on depression, both researchers – Simmie Foster, MD, PhD, a psychiatrist and immunologist and co-investigator on the study, and Maren Nyer, PhD, a clinical psychologist and lead investigator on the study – agree that hot yoga can be a reset for more than just mood. They both also acknowledge how understudied hot yoga actually is.
Other mental health benefits of hot yoga included less anxiety, as well as reduced perceived stress, hopelessness, and rumination. Mindfulness increased as did an overall better quality of life. Basically, people’s responses indicated they were getting more enjoyment out of life.
Another study of women with stress-induced eating and high stress levels showed that those who practiced hot yoga were able to better regulate cortisol in the face of an emotional stressor. Since we’re constantly getting bombarded with stressors, if you can better regulate stress spikes with a consistent hot yoga practice, your resilience to stress can improve.
The science of temperature extremes on your body
We’re living in a time when chronic stress is part of life, and along with stress often comes inflammation. Psychiatrists find that a lot of people with depression have measurable levels of chronic inflammation. According to Foster, “our nervous system and immune system work together, and when the nervous system is under chronic stress, the immune system also goes into defense mode, causing inflammation which can make us feel worse.”
However, high temperature exposure helps shut down the inflammatory response. “In the lab, we see that brief exposure to temperature extremes has profound effects on prolonged harmful inflammation. Our bodies aren’t meant to stay in that state of inflammation forever,” explains Foster. “We’re supposed to have a time limit on the inflammatory response and then start healing. The temperature change helps the body reset.”
Heat + yoga is a powerful combination
So far, these studies have involved 90 minutes of yoga at 105°F, but the researchers stated that there have been no studies to explore the precise temperature of the heat and duration of the class. Nyer recommends using your intuition and following what feels right for your body. Whatever we need to do to improve our stress response varies from person to person. Everybody is different, and what works for one person might not work for another. Some may need more heat, while others benefit from less. “I think different bodies need different things,” adds Nyer.
Aside from the science, we can all agree that practicing yoga in the heat, setting our breath to movement, and establishing an intention to carry with us throughout class make for a very grounding practice. “For me, in heated yoga you’re getting the synergy of the benefits of yoga by itself. You’re getting the benefits of heat. And then you’re getting the benefits of doing those poses in the heat,” says Nyer.
Foster agrees, “You’re infusing energy into your body. Each pose has its own therapeutic benefit. So, you have the physical movement and the breath, which are important. But in addition, we see at a molecular level the heat is making your cells more energetic and more resilient to stress.”
The bottom line
Whether you’re having a bad day, or you can’t remember the last time you didn’t feel stressed out, think twice before you skip practice. Time on your mat might be exactly what helps you the most. Nyer notes, “everybody knows what depression, stress, and anxiety feel like — even if they have never been clinically diagnosed with a mental health disorder — all of that is relatable and is common. So, anything that’s helping reduce perceived stress, anxiety, and depression in broad strokes improves mood.” Foster adds, “for all of us, a little mood boost can make a big difference.”
References:
CorePower YogaConversations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5raKRl9BT1U&t=2s
Hopkins LB, Medina JL, Baird SO, Rosenfield D, Powers MB, Smits JA. Heated hatha yoga to target cortisol reactivity to stress and affective eating in women at risk for obesity-related illnesses: A randomized controlled trial. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2016 Jun;84(6):558-64. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000091. Epub 2016 Mar 10. PMID: 26963599; PMCID: PMC4873332.
Lambert BS, Miller KE, Delgado DA, Chaliki K, Lee J, Bauza G, Taraballi F, Dong D, Tasciotti E, Harris JD, McCulloch PC. Acute Physiologic Effects of Performing Yoga in The Heat on Energy Expenditure, Range of Motion, and Inflammatory Biomarkers. Int J Exerc Sci. 2020 May 1;13(3):802-817. doi: 10.70252/AKMZ9424. PMID: 32509120; PMCID: PMC7241641.
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