Currently, the types of yoga mats on the market are quite diverse with many different designs and quality. However, few people know that in order to choose a suitable yoga mat, the most important thing you need to do is understand the role of a yoga mat.
A yoga mat is a tool you absolutely must prepare when you intend to pursue this subject. Choosing an exercise mat will largely depend on your preferences, needs and finances.
Many yoga beginners think that equipping a mat is quite wasteful and unnecessary because they can practice completely on the floor or use the mat in the classroom. If you also have these thoughts, let’s follow easyhealthylive.com to follow the sharing below to understand more why it is necessary to equip a yoga mat.
The effect of yoga mats
Yoga is a discipline that can bring practitioners a lot of health and mental benefits. Therefore, in recent years, yoga has been chosen by more and more people to pursue and become an indispensable part of life.
Basically, yoga is a subject that does not require too many tools, however, you still need to equip 2 essential things: yoga equipment and yoga mat. However, why use a mat when practicing yoga?
1. Keep your body warm
Whether it’s summer or winter, floors are often cooler than room temperature. Meanwhile, yoga is a subject with many lying and sitting positions, causing the body to contact the cold floor. In the long run, this is very unhealthy for the practitioner.
The mat helps maintain body temperature while exercising
Practicing yoga on the mat also helps maintain body temperature, reducing heat loss through contact with the floor during exercise. From there, you can comfortably practice without worrying about your body getting cold from the floor.
2. Avoid injury during exercise
For beginners, mats can help you avoid the risk of injury when practicing yoga. Yoga poses need to be practiced on a flat, stable surface, if there is no mat, the body will have to be in direct contact with the floor, from which parts such as knees, elbows, hands and feet will be. easily hurt.
In addition, in yoga, there are up to 30% of push-ups on the wrist, ankle and knee joints. Practicing yoga on a mat is a way to protect these joint areas from impact.
Yoga mats help prevent injury
3. Improve balance
One of the benefits of yoga mats is to help the body maintain balance. For beginners, keeping balance when practicing yoga is relatively difficult, so the mat will help you a lot.
As for the veteran yogis for many years, the use of the mat is also strongly promoted because the movements are often difficult and require aesthetics in the posture. Using an exercise mat when exercising will help you have a grip point in your legs to balance your body.
4. Ensure hygiene
On the floor often hides a lot of bacteria and other harmful agents, practicing yoga on the carpet will help you avoid direct contact with the floor and prevent harmful bacteria from contacting the body.
In addition, if you practice in yoga classes or clubs, sharing the carpet will also make the mat unsanitary and have an unpleasant odor. Therefore, to keep hygiene and help yourself feel the most comfortable, you should invest in a good yoga mat for long-term practice.
Some notes when using yoga mats
In order to use the carpet to the maximum effect, you need to choose for yourself a suitable carpet and note a few tips after use:
- The most important feature to consider when choosing to buy an exercise mat is the thickness. According to usage experience, under normal conditions and spread directly to the floor, you should buy carpets from 5mm to 6mm with PVC and TPE materials are suitable. For natural rubber mats combined with PU, only a thickness of 3 – 5mm is needed because this material is “translucent” and very elastic.
- In terms of materials, if you have respiratory problems such as sinusitis, rhinitis … or are allergic to odors, sensitive skin, you should avoid choosing a carpet made from PVC because this type has a very unpleasant smell. .
- If you are a beginner and this is your first time buying a mat, you can choose cost-effective mats like PVC and NBR to save money. If you decide to stick with it for a long time, choose better quality carpets such as PTE or rubber mats combined with PU.
- Pay attention to the slip resistance of the carpet when buying. The reason is that during exercise, you will sweat a lot and make the carpet easy to slip. If the mat is not slip resistant, you will be more prone to injury.
- If you practice yoga regularly, sweat and dirt will easily accumulate on the mat and you will need to clean the mat regularly. Therefore, when choosing a carpet, you need to choose one that is easy to wash. You should clean the carpet once a week to ensure that the microorganisms that cause odors are removed.
- You also need to know when to change your yoga mat.
When buying a yoga mat, pay attention to slip resistance
Above are some useful effects of equipping a yoga mat. If you intend to pursue this subject for a long time, do not hesitate to buy yourself a good mat to ensure you get the best benefits from practicing yoga.
Reference source
7 Yoga Mat Benefits: How to Enjoy Yoga with a Quality Yoga Mat https://yolig.com/yoga-mat-benefits/ Accessed date: 17/2/2020
The Benefits Of Using A Yoga Mat https://www.yoyomats.com/blogs/news/the-benefits-of-using-a-yoga-mat Accessed: February 17, 2020
Yoga Mats: Are They Really Necessary? https://yogainternational.com/article/view/yoga-mats-are-they-really-necessary Accessed date: 17/2/2020
John Alen was born in 1971 and is a doctor in the healthcare and psychology fields with many years of experience. He is currently working at easyhealthylive.com, a leading health and psychology blog. Having studied at Y1 National Medical University named after IM Sechenov, John Alen is using his knowledge and experience to help improve the physical and mental health of people in the United States.
