Yoga Benefits for Men and Women Over 40

It’s never too late. Whether you’ve hit middle age or your golden years, the benefits of exercise are profound.

But as we age, not all exercises offer the same benefits. High-impact training like weightlifting and running can hurt our joints. The challenge then becomes to find an activity that we enjoy and that can improve our overall health, with minimal risk.

Yoga offers just such an opportunity. More and more research has shown that yoga is an excellent total body exercise for your body and your mind.

In this article, we’re going to quickly show you the yoga benefits, whether you’re in your 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s or 80’s. Then we’re going to show you how you can get started quickly and easily.

15 ways yoga can be of benefit for aging adults

1. Osteoporosis and Osteopenia

Problem: As you age, your bone density decreases. For some people, accelerated bone loss, known as osteopenia or osteoporosis, results in increased susceptibility to fractures.

How yoga can help: The extent to which you experience bone loss may have as much to do with genetics and gender as it does your physical activity level, but movement and weight-bearing exercises keep bones healthier for longer. Weight-bearing exercises can marginally increase bone density, although the gains are relatively small. Still, yoga is valuable not only because of its potential effect on your skeleton but because it increases body awareness and enhances balance.

2. Arthritis

Problem: Arthritis can cause daily pain in joints like the hands, knees, wrists, or elbows. It can make you feel stiff and creaky, limiting your comfortable range of motion.

How yoga can help: Recent research shows that regular yoga practice can aid in reducing joint pain and help in improving joint flexibility. Regular yoga practice might also reduce inflammation.

3. Spinal stenosis

Problem: Spinal stenosis, the narrowing of the spinal canal or vertebral openings, can squeeze your spinal cord and cause radiating pain and numbness that affects your hips, legs, and even your shoulders.

How yoga can help: A yoga practice that cautiously approaches forward folds and side bending and avoids extension ( backbends ) can help significantly reduce pain.

4. Disc issues

Problem: Herniated, bulging, or slipped discs can press on your spinal cord or nearby nerves, causing spasms, limited movement, and radiating pain. Disc issues and back pain are more common in the lower lumbar region but may occur anywhere along the spine.

How yoga can help: Yoga can help you build core strength and flexibility in your spine, and these two things can go a long way toward remedying back pain.

5. Core strength and back pain

If you’ve ever experienced back pain, you’ve probably been given the advice to strengthen your core. That wisdom is logical—building up the muscles in your trunk, back, abdomen, hips, and legs mean that your spine is better supported.

How yoga can help: Any new yoga movement will likely result in a stronger core. As you move your body in new ways, your major stabilizing muscles have to adapt. Yoga offers specific poses for core strength, too.

6. Nerve pain and neuropathy

Problem: When nerves are injured, pain, weakness, numbness, cramping, or tingling can occur as a result. Peripheral neuropathy, this often occurs in limbs, hands, feet, fingers, and toes. Nerve issues can result from a myriad of illnesses. Often caused by circulatory system issues, neuropathy also can be a side effect of other diseases or injuries.

How yoga can help: Yoga poses improve circulation; movement alone can help! Body awareness is also key.

7. Ligament tears

Problem: Ligament tears are common in aging, stressed, and overused joints, especially knees, shoulders, hips, and ankles. As we age, we put increasing stress on these joints, which can result in abrasions and tears. If the ligaments give out, or if the joint is degraded, you may find yourself with a replacement.

How yoga can help: Yoga is useful for ligament issues in several ways: First, yoga helps you strengthen the muscles around your joints. Your knees, for instance, will be better protected if your glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps are strong. Many common yoga lunge poses help keep your legs strong. Yoga is also useful if you are recovering from a ligament tear injury, as it allows you to continue moving even amidst injury.

8. Tendonitis and tendinopathy

Problem: Although it’s often a temporary condition, tendon inflammation can cause joint pain and stiffness, and it can also create instability in weight-bearing movements. And as tendons age they can degrade, a condition called tendinopathy.

How yoga can help: Acute tendonitis generally requires some days of rest. But after allowing time to heal, yoga can be useful in helping establish new movement patterns. Because tendonitis is often caused by repetitive movements, slowly practicing a variety of yoga poses offers you a chance to continue movement but in new and various ways—shoring up the muscles around the tendon and giving inflamed areas a chance to heal.

9. Myofascial tightening and stiffness

Problem: As we age, we lose flexibility in our muscles and connective tissue due to a loss of collagen, which results in stiffness, imbalance, and less confidence while balancing.

How yoga can help: If you don’t use it, you lose it! Regular yoga practice can help reverse some of that acquired stiffness. Gentle, regular stretching can help keep your body fluid and flexible. We’re often as amazed as our yoga students when we see the changes that habitual stretching and movement can confer. You don’t have to touch your toes, but yoga might get you a little closer to them. Yin Yoga in particular targets the connective tissue through long holds.

10. Hormonal changes

Problem: In women, menopause can bring temperature changes and hot flashes.

How yoga can help: Some studies have shown that a restorative yoga practice can help decrease the hot flashes that can come with hormonal changes.

11. Blood pressure

Problem: High blood pressure is one of the most common ailments that affect adults as they age. One in three American adults has high blood pressure. Rapidly transitioning from standing upright to folding forward can exacerbate dizziness, a common symptom of low blood pressure and a side effect of common medications for high blood pressure.

How yoga can help: Some studies show that regular yoga can lower blood pressure, so a routine yoga practice will help.

12. Asthma

Problem: Age-related lung changes can aggravate asthma, so as you age, bouts of asthma may increase.

How yoga can help: If your asthma is provoked by exercise, yoga is a good fit since with yoga your heart rate stays relatively low.

13. Breathing issues

Problem: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis, and emphysema make breathing very challenging and limit your ability to do cardiovascular activities.

How yoga can help: Yoga is low impact. For this reason, it is a useful movement practice if you have COPD or similar respiratory problems. Additionally, a yoga practice often has pranayama, or breath practices. Focusing on inhaling and exhaling can be useful if you have a chronic breathing problem since breathing exercises can potentially help strengthen muscles used in respiration. Time spent in mindful breathing can also help you have more awareness of your breath; noticing when you get breathless or when you feel short of breath can help you seek treatment quickly.

14. Sleep issues

Problem: Night wakefulness or restlessness may disrupt sleep.

How yoga can help: Intentional, slow breathing can foster a sense of relaxation and calm. A slow yoga and stretching routine before bed can help encourage drowsiness and tranquility. In fact, studies show that yoga can help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Exercise of any type helps tire us out and promotes exhaustion, which can lead to better quality sleep.

15. Chronic illness

Problem: Chronic illness can cause debilitating pain, depression, and even hopelessness.

How yoga can help: Yoga can be effective as a pain-management tool for some afflictions, including rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. Since yoga is so adaptable, it can be practiced in a chair or hospital bed. It may also be a helpful meditative tool.

How to get started

Starting yoga is easy! Nearly 10% of Americans, of all ages, currently do yoga, so you’re not alone.

I’d recommend you start out by taking a beginner’s yoga class with a qualified instructor. This will give you the opportunity to learn how to do each yoga pose with the proper form, which is essential to get the maximum benefit from each pose and avoid injury.

You should also take a yoga class that includes a full gamut of techniques like poses, breathing, and meditation. Doing so will ensure that you maximize the physical, cardiovascular and mental benefits of yoga.

If you have any preexisting conditions like a sore back, arthritis, torn rotator cuff, ACL or MCL sprains, etc, it’s important to tell your instructor in advance. A good instructor will be able to amend poses for you to avoid unnecessary or dangerous strain on affected areas that might aggravate your injury.

What type of yoga is best for you?

There are several types of yoga to choose from. We’d definitely recommend you do a yoga practice that includes poses, breathing, and meditation, as opposed to a fitness session that includes some yoga poses.

Hatha Yoga

Best for beginners because of the slow pace and introduction to basic techniques.

Hatha yoga simply refers to all styles of yoga that are grounded in physical practice. A Hatha class generally teaches basic physical poses. Hatha yoga classes are good if you’re starting out because they offer a classic approach to breathing and poses and typically go at a slower pace than some of the other styles. If a class calls itself Hatha, it’s generally intended for beginners.

Bikram Yoga

Best for beginners, people who want a sweat, or those who like a set routine because of Bikram’s predictable routine.

Bikram yoga is hot! The yoga studio is set to 105 degrees with 40 percent humidity.

Invented by Bikram Choudhury about 30 years ago, Bikram yoga includes a series of 26 poses, with each one done twice per session. The heat is supposed to increase flexibility and suppleness.

Bikram is one of the most popular types of yoga around, so it’s pretty easy to find. Just make sure you can stand the heat and stay hydrated!

Ashtanga Yoga

Best for those looking for a more rigorous workout and a predictable routine and sequence of exercises.

Ashtanga is rooted in ancient yoga. It’s a more defined and difficult style of yoga that has a set sequence of poses, where each movement is tied to a breath.

Ashtanga always performs the same poses, in the exact same sequence. It was popularized in the West by K. Pattabhi Jois in the 1970’s.

Vinyasa Yoga

Best for those looking for a high-intensity workout because of its faster pace, of flowing from one movement into another.

Vinyasa is a very fluid style of yoga, and probably the most athletic. A variation of Ashtanga, Vinyasa coordinates movement with breath and you typically flow from one movement into the next, not staying n one pose for very long. It’s different from Ashtanga, in that there is no set sequence of movements.

Iyengar Yoga

Best for those with injuries and those obsessed with form and getting their poses right.

Iyengar yoga is not afraid to use props, blocks, straps, walls, and blankets to help you hit the perfect form with precision detail. The biggest difference between Iyengar and Vinyasa is that while there is no set sequence, each pose is held for a set period of time.

Yoga frequency

If you’re just starting out, some yoga instructors suggest doing it every day for 10-25 minutes, so that you can start to train your muscle memory for each yoga pose.

That might mean you got to 1-2 classes per week, to make sure your getting good instruction on how to perform each pose properly, but then doing 10-25 minutes a day at home when you’re not going to the yoga class.

As referenced earlier in this article, one study showed that doing just 12 minutes of yoga a day can reverse the effects of bone density loss.

Then again, many instructors will tell you that doing just 1 class a week will have benefits for your health and state of mind.