You might think of yoga as something less intensive than exercise. If you think of it as any kind of exercise, you may consider yoga to be a form of low intensity exercise. Who expects to sweat during yoga? Certainly not people who have never done yoga before.
Does yoga make you sweat? Sure it does, if you’re doing certain kinds of yoga and certain types of movement. Anytime your body exerts itself, there’s a chance you’re going to sweat.
You can try to mitigate that and decrease your risk of sweating by working out in an air conditioned area or by exerting yourself slowly, but as you exert your body for long periods of time, you’re going to end up sweating.
Why Does Yoga Make You Sweat So Much?
Compared to a high intensity type of exercise, you probably won’t sweat a lot during yoga. People who have to really exert themselves to sweat may not sweat at all during yoga, but some people feel like they’re sweating buckets. Here’s why that is.
Sweat is produced when your body starts exerting itself and begins to get hot. Your body produces sweat to cool you down. So, if yoga makes your body hot, then you will likely start sweating.
The longer you work out for, the more you will sweat as well. If you’re doing long yoga sessions, expect to sweat, even when the movements are very simple, slow paced, and easy for you.
If you’re not used to working out, yoga can seem pretty taxing. It may stress your body more than you’re used to, so it may be really easy for you to start sweating.
You may look at people doing yoga and think that it looks really easy and that there’s no chance you’re going to end up sweating, but then you try it and start breaking out in a sweat pretty quickly. Your body just isn’t used to that kind of exertion, so it won’t take much for it to heat up and then feel like it needs to sweat in order to cool down.
How to Sweat Less During Yoga
If you want to make your yoga sessions dry ones, it may help to use an antiperspirant. Also try wearing clothes that are not thick and heavy on you. You’ll see a lot of yoga outfits that are thin and stretchy. These provide lots of ventilation, and they also don’t over encumber people.
You can do your stretches without straining yourself too much and feel like you’re not carrying around a lot of extra weight.
Also try to do your yoga in an air conditioned room, if you can help it. You’ll still get a lot of the same benefits for your body, but you’ll be cooler and less likely to sweat. At the very least, you’ll sweat less than if you’re doing your yoga in a room that isn’t air conditioned.
You could also try doing yoga outside with the breeze to help you keep from sweating as much.
As you work out more and develop your body to be athletic and fit, you’ll find that it takes more to heat your body up and make you sweat. So, doing yoga regularly will cause you to sweat less often when doing yoga. Pretty neat, right?
If you feel like you’re sweating a lot during yoga, particularly more than you would like to, you can slow the movements down or do movements that aren’t as strenuous for you. You can always ask your yoga instructor for a routine that’s less taxing for you.
Also, a tip for people who want to avoid sweating a lot during yoga- don’t pick hot yoga sessions. These are designed to make you sweat plenty.
If you see yoga videos where the participants are sweating profusely, they may be doing what’s called hot yoga. This is a high intensity yoga that follows a lot of the same basic principles of your typical yoga routines but then amps it all up for maximum sweatiness.
Why would anyone want to do hot yoga? It’s probably because they know that sweating helps reduce their body’s water weight and makes them look fitter. It can also burn calories quickly, helping them to lose fatty weight and have a slimmer appearance.
You can take all the benefits of yoga and then add in the benefits of a high intensity workout program with this kind of yoga.
Are There Benefits to Sweating during Yoga?
I talked briefly already about how sweat indicates that you’re working hard. So, if you’re sweating a lot, that means you’re burning a lot of energy and fat. A sweaty workout is one that’s better for weight loss than a workout that doesn’t get you to sweat.
If you’re trying to slim down, lose weight, and burn fat, sweaty workouts are ideal.
Sweat is also a great way to push toxins out of your body. A lot of times, your body will heat up when you are sick, and this helps to force toxins out of the body as you sweat. Sweating can cleanse and purify your body, cleaning it out in a natural way. If you’re looking to detox, just doing a strenuous workout session can do that for you. Instead of paying for a detox program, try just doing a workout program. You may get a lot of the same benefits.
Your body is designed to sweat regularly, so if you’re not sweating at least a few times a week, it’s good to do exercises that cause you to sweat. Yoga can do that for you, making you sweat more than you think, especially if you’re doing tough poses or you’re engaged in long workout sessions.
If you want to get more from your yoga routines, try more challenging poses and see if you can go longer with your yoga exercise time.
Don’t worry about sweating so much during yoga. Everybody does it, but not everybody sweats as easily.
My name is Ellis Francis and I have been a personal fitness trainer, sports nutritionalist and health and fitness advisor for over 25 years. I am the lead health and fitness advisor at https://awellnessbody.com.
