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The jury’s been out on this hot topic… until now.
Hot yoga, usually practiced in a room heated to between 32 and 40 degrees Celsius, has been steadily growing in popularity, but the jury’s been out on it’s safety…until now. A recent study published by the American Council on Exercise finds that with proper hydration, hot yoga is just as safe as its less sweaty counterpart.
READ MORE: “I Tried Bikram Yoga In A 40 Degree Heated Room – This Is What It Was Like”
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse researchers recruited 20 healthy, relatively fit people between the ages of 19 and 44 and measured their core body temperatures after a 60-minute Vinyasa yoga class in a 70-degree room, and then again after another class where the temperature was jacked up to between 32 and 35 degrees with 35 to 40 percent humidity.
Surprisingly, no difference between the core body temperatures after the two classes was found. After both, the student’s core temperatures rose to an average of 37 degrees, well below the unsafe 40-degree level when you start seeing trouble, says study author John Porcari, PhD, an exercise and sports science professor at UW-Lacrosse.
READ MORE: “I Tried Hot Yoga – And These Are The 10 Hard Lessons I Learnt”
“When you’re exercising, it’s almost like your body shuts down if you get to that level,” he says. “It’s considered dangerous, and heat-related illness is almost impending.”
Porcari says the results were likely similar because the participants were well hydrated. The yoga teachers encouraged students to drink plenty of water before and during class.
“If you go into the class dehydrated or don’t drink during the class there is potential for problems,” says Porcari. He suggests starting to hydrate at least 30 minutes before a class, drinking 200ml of water immediately before class, and more as necessary during class.
He says another study would need to be done to test the safety of Bikram yoga, a popular and very regimented, 90-minute practice where students hold 26 poses in a 40-degree room.
This is everything you need to know about doing yoga to lose weight. Plus: How yoga helped this woman cope with her pregnancy.
