Acupuncture & TCM Articles

Exercise and Yoga Another Way to Treat Hypothyroidism
Author: Raj Kumar

Hypothyroidism is the disease that affects metabolism and so the entire bodily systems. This is because the hormone called thyroxin plays major role in metabolism of the body and this hormone is secreted, stored and released in the body by the gland called thyroid.

As the name suggest, hypothyroidism means underactive thyroid as hypo means low, less, under or little. In this condition, the thyroid gland produces less thyroxin hormone that is not sufficient to the body´s requirement and therefore, the body lacks the hormone and ends up into metabolism complications.

However, hypothyroidism is well treated and controlled by the supplementation of thyroxin hormone but there are certain methods that can help you to live with the disease very happily and without any complications. Exercise and Yoga are two of the best techniques by which, one can easily keep thyroid gland in its normal state.

Light exercises like brisk walking, treadmill and aerobics are very useful. They improve the blood circulation in your body and therefore very helpful in thyroid hormone production. Here one should remember that heavy exercises like weight lifting, dumbles and other muscle-developing exercises are not required. You should better do not do that. All you need is light exercises on the regular basis with proper timing.

You can include various sports instead. Sports are both; fun and exercise. Since hypothyroidism brings weight gaining also, sports that burns the calories will be the preferred one. You can go for playing squash as it is one of the highest calorie burning sports. Other sports include lawn tennis, basketball, football and simply running.

Swimming is another best way to keep your body fit and to keep you hormones in level. You need not go for different kinds of strokes in swimming like butterfly etc. but you should swim at least for ½ - 1 hour early in the morning with the water that does not contain any chlorine. Some of the naturopaths suggest taking bath in natural spring will be excellent idea to keep your body fit and to boost your metabolism that has come down.

Yoga like Hatha Yoga, Pranayama (the breathing techniques), Shavasana (the dead posture), simhasana (the lion posture) and kapalbhanti (another type of breathing technique) help not only keeping thyroid healthy, but they also boost your health keeping you hale and hearty. Latest researches also support Yoga and breathing technique (Pranayama) to be two of the best methods to control your any type of diseases.

Some of the Yoga gurus suggest that meditation plays an important role in keeping your hormonal level normal. We know very well that hormones get disturbed during various human emotions such as anger and love. Meditation helps controlling brain chemicals and neurotransmission. There are various types of meditations and you can perform any of one that gives you peace of mind. Meditation along with Yoga brings stability in the mind, body and soul.

These techniques are off the main treatment for hypothyroidism and should not be considered as first line treatment.