Why older women need yoga

The Yoga market place is flooded with images of the young and beautiful smiling their way through impossible yoga poses. So much so that men, older people, and the not so flexible are likely to judge themselves ineligible.

Here are five reasons why women really need yoga from midlife and beyond.

1. Older women are at risk of losing bone mass - osteoporosis. Yoga provides gentle resistance training that helps the bones osteoblasts build stronger bones.
2. As we age our muscles atrophy at a faster rate. Exercise is needed to build them. Yoga is great for building muscles in a relatively risk free manner.
3. Yoga builds body awareness, breath awareness and includes practices that release endorphins. Its better than chocolate because it burns calories rather than adds them. Older women, especially in the peri-menopausal years face mood swings that these endorphins can certainly help.
4. As women age they often report that they do not sleep very well. The relaxation practices of yoga help to compensate for lost sleep and establish the conditions for improved sleep.
5.  Yoga works on core strength, including pelvic floor strength. This is great as it helps to prevent back injuries, relieve existing back soreness and, bonus, helps prevent bladder leakage, a common curse of the older woman.

But you do need to choose your class. Mixing it with those hot bods of the 20 somethings might not be the best option. Practice yoga amongst your peers and with a teacher who is trained to understand your needs, better still if the teacher is also your peer in age.