Having a cold is always an unpleasant experience. Sneezing, coughing, and feeling completely exhausted can be debilitating – and not to mention, all the over-the-counter medicines you need to take just to relieve some symptoms! But if you’re looking for an all-natural solution, then yoga may just be your answer. Yeah, you read that right! Doing certain yoga poses has the effect of mitigating everything from sinus congestion to digestive issues.
Have you recently been feeling under the weather? In autumn, people are more likely to start getting sick. This could be due to the change of season, where people are more likely to spend time indoors because of the colder weather. In fact, the month of October is when flu activity often begins to increase. When people start to get sick, the first thing they gravitate to are tissues and cold medicine, because it works to lessen cold like symptoms as your body tries to fight off the virus.
Yes, it is easy to succumb to a cold and just take medicine and rest, but why not try using yoga to cope and ultimately get better? Generally, people don’t want to exercise when they get sick. They just want to sit and relax until their body can get better. Yoga is different because it is not about strenuous exercise. It is more about relaxing stretches that holds the ability of numerous physical and mental benefits. In fact, according to the national library of medicine, regularly doing yoga is linked to reduced inflammation. It could even have further beneficial effects by enhancing cell-mediated and mucosal immunity.
Whether you love yoga or not, it’s important to keep in mind that stretching may be an avenue for providing both short-term and long-term relief from the feverish malaise of a cold or flu. Adding yoga to your home wellness plan will help support better recovery. Next time, you may want to think twice before automatically reaching for the over-the-counter cold medicine.
For more information on how yoga can help you with a cold, click here.
Article written by William Graves.