Need both a mental and physical break from school to destress before finals week? If so, yoga is the exercise for you. With benefits to both your mental and physical health, yoga will be the perfect remedy to your final exam stress.

Physically, yoga is an exercise that will increase your flexibility and muscle tone, as well as help maintain a balanced metabolism.

During a yoga session, the instructor will guide you into different positions to expand your flexibility. Throughout your yoga experience, you will find yourself being able to do things you had not been able to do before, such as something simple like touching your toes.

While your flexibility is increasing, your muscle strength will begin building throughout your yoga exercises. Your body will become more limber and this will lead to your ability to create more muscle strength through yoga.

Although there are many more physical health benefits to practicing yoga, like improved posture and spine perks, there are many mental benefits as well.

Yoga has shown to improve stress in the individual who is exercising it. Stress can be seen in many different ways. As many students can relate, when you are stressed out because of school, sometimes all you need is a calming experience.

Yoga is an exercise that helps with mental calmness and relaxation, and in turn will help destress students while they begin studying for their final exams.

Claire Wilhite, a nutrition major at UK, spoke to me about why she decided to use yoga for both physical and mental reasons. 

“Yoga is one of the best exercises for the mind and body,” Wilhite said. “Yoga exercises help your physical health by increasing your flexibility and balance and it helps your mental health by helping destress you.”

Aside from the external benefits received from yoga, several studies have shown that it helps lower blood pressure and lower your risk to cardiovascular risks. One of the main reasons yoga is heart healthy is because it is a great stress relieving exercise.

One of the greatest reasons that yoga is an exercise to try out is because there are many different types of yoga exercises. There is regular, hot, hatha and tons of other types of yoga as well. While you may not be a huge fan of one type of yoga, trying another may be the best way for you to find your perfect fit.

Yoga is an exercise that holds many more benefits than you could ever imagine. While improving your strength and flexibility, yoga exercises also help control your stress levels. For students who are becoming stressed out before final exams, yoga may be the best way to cope.