…Yoga for Fitter, Happier Health Workers…

Yoga has been around for centuries and has been helping people achieve enlightenment for the same amount of time. It traces its roots to India where it laid the foundations for Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Yoga is a discipline that requires and improves one’s mind, body and soul. This practice has also gained prominence through the ages because of the healthy elements it imparts on practitioners. There are even stories and cases of men and women suffering from severe maladies that have been cured by constant yoga practice. This is the best reason why the tired and weary health worker needs to get off the couch and into the yoga mat; to stay fit and healthy.

There are conflicting origins for yoga. Some would cite the pre-Vedic Indian traditions which have been mentioned many times in the Rigveda. Others claim yoga to have been developed around the fifth and sixth centuries BC as part of Indian movements known as ascetic and sramana. As time progressed, Yoga gurus found several ways to introduce the discipline to the west after the success of Swami Vivekananda in the early 20th century. While the east practiced yoga for both mind and body, the west embraced yoga as a physical exercise.

But how can health workers, involve yoga in their lives? Yoga isn’t just about doing strenuous poses for a fixed amount of time. It involves reflection and proper breathing. It will also call some serious dedication and perseverance. Would you believe that those poses are only a part that makes up the philosophy behind yoga? It’s a deeper and richer practice if you take the time to learn the teachings.

Let’s first examine the physical benefits that health workers like doctors, nurses and paramedics can get when they start doing yoga. Improved muscle strength – muscle strength is important for health workers especially when they are responding to emergencies which require them to lift something heavy.

Increase blood flow – practicing yoga and following the proper breathing exercise can help keep your blood flowing faster, making you more alert.

Boosts Immunity – mastering the different yoga poses also gives nurses and EMTs a boosted immunity that will be a big factor when dealing with patients. This comes in handy especially in situations where there is a need to handle patients with communicable diseases.

Makes You Happier – a happy worker is a healthy one. The physical aspect of yoga helps your body release all sorts of hormones that can improve a person’s mood. This in turn can lead to better output and a positive outlook towards work and colleagues. A study found out that constant yoga practice can gradually relieve you of depression and an increased amount of serotonin levels. The same study states that the physical exertion also lowered the levels of monoamine oxidase and cortisol. Long term yoga practitioners also showed large amounts of activity on the left side of their brains.

Gives Back your Focus – in an industry like the health care industry, its so easy to lose focus especially when ridden with fatigue and insane amounts of stress. Practicing yoga not only keeps your mind alert and active it also brings back your focus. Studies show that yoga improves coordination, reaction time while at the same time vastly improving IQ scores. There was even one case where the respondent was practicing transcendental meditation and showed prowess in problem solving as well as recalling things. This is really important especially for doctors who deal with life-and-death situations most of the time.

This proves that there is nothing wrong with allotting sometime to take care of yourself by practicing this ancient discipline. If anything, this could prove to be beneficial and could even help you improve your performance at work, garnering more praises and even a promotion down the line.