How Much Does Yoga Lower Your Heart Rate?

Many styles of yoga exist: Vigorous ones such as Ashtanga and Bikram elevate the heart rate, whereas slower-paced styles such as Yin and Restorative tend to lower the heart rate. Ultimately, though, conditioned individuals — those who exercise regularly — have a lower resting heart rate than unconditioned ones because their hearts pump blood through their bodies more efficiently. The degree to which your heart rate lowers due to yoga exercise depends on your age, size and physical activity level.

  1. The Heart is a Muscle

    • Like any other muscle, the heart builds strength as a result of exercise. Exercising allows the heart to work more efficiently. The hearts of people who exercise pump a greater amount of blood through their host's bodies with one pump than the hearts of people who do not exercise. According to an article by Meredith Walker on NursingDegree.Net, since less work is needed to move blood through their bodies, people who exercise — yogis included — tend to have lower resting heart rates and in turn, greater cardiovascular endurance than those who do not exercise.

    Yoga as Cardio Exercise

    • According to a "Huffington Post" article entitled "Does Yoga Count as Cardio?," burning 800 calories in a 45- to 60-minute yoga class would take the same amount of effort as running at 6.7 miles per hour for the entire length of the class. Achieving this amount of effort in a yoga class is unlikely, due to the variable phases of work each yoga class typically incorporates, for example the warm-up, the moderate- to high-effort zone, and the cool-down. During each of the different phases, your heart rate is sure to fluctuate.

    Measuring Heart Rate in a Beginner Versus Advanced Yoga Class

    • According to two studies done in 2005 and 2007, one by the National Center for Biotechnology Information and the other by BMC Complementary & Alternative Medicine, students burn roughly 2.3 to 3.2 calories per minute in beginner-level yoga classes, or around 104 to 144 calories per 45-minute class. The heart rates of these beginner-level students increased a mere 15 beats per minute. On the other hand, students participating in an Ashtanga class — a more rigorous style of yoga that includes a specific sequence of physical postures — had a greater increase in their heart rates; their heart rates rose by 30 beats per minute.

    Yoga May Slow Your Metabolism

    • According to a 2006 study by BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, yogis have a 15 percent lower metabolism than nonyogis; this is because yoga is an exercise that ultimately helps to lower stress levels and works toward inhibiting your body's "fight-or-flight" response.