Fitness

Is hot yoga good for you? What to know about the benefits, potential risks and more

Published

1 year ago

December 18, 2024

Is hot yoga good for you? What to know about the benefits, potential risks and more

Yoga can be challenging to begin with, but doing it in a heated room can feel next-level intimidating.

Like most forms of exercise, hot yoga comes with benefits as well as risks to know about prior to your first class. The heated mind-body practice is beloved by some, while it’s a hard skip for others. But is it for you?

Read on to learn more about what is involved in hot yoga, any benefits and risks associated with the practice and a glimpse at what you could see in class.

What is hot yoga?

Hot yoga is just what it sounds like — yoga done in a heated room.

The practice was popularized by Bikram yoga, a hatha-style class done in a 105-degree room with 40% humidity, consisting of 26 postures and two breathwork sequences. Bikram, named after its controversial founder who was the subject of the 2019 Netflix documentary, began in the 1970s, and many other practices of hot yoga have since emerged.

The length, temperature and yoga style that make up a hot yoga class is largely dictated by the studio you’re practicing at.

At Modo Yoga LA, for example, the temperature is kept at 99-100 degrees and 40-60% humidity, a formula that its co-founder Alice Toyonaga describes to TODAY.com as accessible, sustainable and follows one of their pillars, “be healthy.”

Toyonaga says their studios offer hot yoga classes in traditional yoga styles, such as hatha, vinyasa and yin, but also hybrid series that incorporate other workouts, such as HIIT or Pilates, in a heated room.

“Just like with everything else, not all hot yoga is created equal,” Toyonaga explains. “And so, quite often, we’ll have people who’ve been like, ‘Oh, I tried this, and that wasn’t for me.’ And that’s absolutely fair, and it doesn’t mean that one type is right or wrong.”

Hot yoga temperature

In Bikram hot yoga, poses are performed in a 105-degree room with 40% humidity. For other hot yoga classes, the studios determine the temperature. While Cleveland Clinic reports that the room for hot yoga is typically heated between 90 and 105 degrees, the temperature can go lower or higher than that range.

Room temperature for hot yoga typically ranges between 90 and 105 degrees. Tom Werner / Getty Images

Is hot yoga good for you?

The physical and mental benefits of doing yoga apply to its heated version. Common pros to the practice include building muscle, toning, increasing flexibility, dealing with the stresses of daily life and practicing mindfulness. But some of those benefits are amplified in elevated heat.

Improved flexibility

When exposed to higher temperatures, Toyonaga says muscles become more flexible and joints increase their range of motion.

“While there are definitely demographics of people who do yoga who are already quite flexible, what they need to work on is, let’s say, strength over mobility,” she continues. “We are working on a computer. We’re hunched over. We are behind the wheel of a car here in LA. So there’s just a lot. We’re just a static culture, so to speak.”

“And so, we do need any little assist to our range of motion to get a deeper stretch within poses,” she continues. “The heat is definitely something that helps to do that.”

Improved heart health

Another plus to doing hot yoga is that it’s more physically demanding and therefore makes the heart pump faster, which can improve cardiovascular health, as long as there are no preexisting conditions.

Reduced stress

Beyond the physical benefits, hot yoga can also help one’s mental state through the adversity faced inside of a heated room and the de-stressing that comes with it.

“It does play a big psychological role in that you are overcoming this challenge and adversity with your breath, and you’re doing that on your mat,” Toyonaga says. “It’s a controlled environment, but what an awesome lesson that we can take with us in line at Trader Joe’s.”

She added: “I feel like a lot of the times, with the heat and we’re trying to get through this class, we are in a way becoming more present than when we’re off of our mats because we are focused on this next breath, this next pose, this next sequence, and being that embodied and that present really helps us get out of our own way and (is) a really nice way to destress.”

Are there any risks or dangers to hot yoga?

When thinking about doing a hot yoga class for an extended period, you might be wondering if the heated practice comes with any health risks.

First, and most importantly, if you have any specific concerns or underlying preexisting conditions, always check with your doctor before taking a hot yoga class.

A common risk when it comes to practicing hot yoga is dehydration, due to the loss of water weight from sweating in high temperatures and humidity. This can lead to feeling faint or ill during class.

Toyonaga stresses the importance of having an ample amount of water before and after class, because if you start to feel unwell during the practice, you might already be dehydrated and “drinking during that yoga class is not going to make much of a difference.”

While heat helps muscle flexibility and loosens joints, Dr. Jordan D. Metzl, a sports medicine physician at Hospital for Special Surgery, says it’s important to avoid exaggerating your stretches at the risk of injury.

“The risk is you can overstretch a hamstring or a quad or a hip, and sometimes put yourself in a position where you’re getting a little more stretch out of that muscle than it’s used to being,” he tells TODAY.com.

“You can sometimes make an injury a little more pronounced than it would normally be because you get the position a little more exaggerated than you normally would be because you don’t feel it as much when you’re in that really hot environment,” he continues.

Metzl gives simple advice to prevent yourself from going too deep into stretches: Listen to your body.

“You just have to be smart about not looking at the person next to you and trying to emulate them,” he continues. “Just listen to your body … to make sure you’re not overdoing it, and just being mindful that you’re not feeling really faint or it’s too much for you, especially at the beginning.”

Natalia Perez-Segnini, a yoga teacher, functional and therapeutic breathwork coach, Tone House coach and mindset guide, encourages taking a rest or stepping outside the studio, if you start to feel unwell.

“Stop, lay down, get in child’s pose, Savasana, a restful position for you and find your breath again,” she tells TODAY.com. “And when you’re able to feel that steady flow within your inhales and your exhales, then ask yourself if you want to try it again.”

Woman Touching Toes During Hot Yoga Class. — Hot yoga has both benefits and potential risks that first-timers should be aware of before trying the heated practice.Tom Werner / Getty Images

What should beginners know before going to class?

In addition to staying hydrated before and after class, and understanding the potential risks of the practice, people who are new to hot yoga should generally take their first few classes slow and focus on adjusting to the temperature.

“The first three to five classes, you’re getting used to the heat. That’s what you’re doing,” Toyonaga says. “You need to rest as much as you need to rest in that room, so that we’re getting used to the heat. So if you lie there for the whole hour, just pretend you’re on the beach in Mexico. You’re still doing it.’”

Perez-Segnini emphasizes that for all yogis, but especially beginners, it’s important to pay attention to how they feel throughout the course of the practice.

“This practice, hot yoga, regular yoga in general, is less about the shapes that you’re making with your body, and more about what you feel in your body,” she explains.

Perez-Segnini says that when she first started taking up hot yoga, she wishes someone told her that you don’t have to stick to just one intention, but rather figure it out as you go.

“In class, in the middle of a posture, halfway through, after, you’re allowed to change your mind about the why,” she says. “You’re allowed to change your mind about what you’re doing, and if that means coming out of a pose because you don’t feel great, or realizing that you’re taking it too far … there’s always time to change our minds, no matter where we’re at in life, no matter where in class we are.”

What to wear to hot yoga

What do you wear while exercising in an over-90-degree room for an extended period of time? When in doubt, go with something that you feel comfortable in — and avoid cotton.

“What we will see in the hot room will be more technical fabrics, like things that you would wear to the gym, as opposed to cotton,” Toyonaga says. “A lot of our favorite brands have sweat-wicking clothing, whether it’s tights or shorts, sports bra, a tank top, T-shirt, whatever it is.”

Perez-Segnini says that while it may seem “counterintuitive,” she wears a sports bra paired with pants, which absorb her sweat and gives her more traction.

“If there are any arm balances in class, (there’s) no shot I’m able to pop up into crow with shorts on because I’m sweating so hard, and then that’s dangerous, because you’re slipping off of your own skin,” she explains. “There’s more traction, you have more grip available, depending on the posture that you’re in, when you have skin to fabric contact.”

However, Perez-Segnini says that everyone has different preferences, and that finding what works best for you clothing-wise is part of the process.

A man sitting on his towel and twisting backwards while performing a pose in a hot yoga class. — Comfort is most important when it comes to deciding what to wear to a hot yoga practice.Tom Werner / Getty Images

Poses in hot yoga classes

Just like in any yoga class, the postures you’re asked to do will vary by location and instructor, and there aren’t any poses specific to hot yoga itself. However, here are some common postures to get you in the right mindset for what’s to come.

Fitness

Exercise Boosts Brain ‘Ripples’ Tied to Learning and Memory

Published

3 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Exercise Boosts Brain ‘Ripples’ Tied to Learning and Memory

Each time you go for a jog, ride your bike, or get active in other ways, you’re giving your brain a boost. A small new study has for the first time directly documented this phenomenon, which the researchers call “ripples” — brief bursts of electrical activity in a part of the brain called the hippocampus.

While exercise is known to improve memory, scientists have mostly studied this effect by using behavioral tests or brain imaging methods like MRIs, says Michelle Voss, PhD, one of the study’s authors, a professor, and the director of the Health, Brain, and Cognitive Lab at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

But she says these approaches can’t precisely identify where “ripples” originate, particularly in the deep brain structures like the hippocampus, a part of the brain strongly connected to memory and learning, she says.

The current study, published in Brain Communications, recorded electrical activity directly, using surgically implanted (intracranial) electrodes. “This allowed us to observe how exercise changes the brain’s memory circuits in real time,” Dr. Voss says.

20-Minute Bursts of Exercise Increase Brain Ripples

To conduct the study, the researchers recruited 14 participants between ages 17 and 50 with drug-resistant epilepsy. The subjects had already been fitted with intracranial electrodes as part of their preparation for surgical epilepsy treatment.

The participants performed a 5-minute warm-up and then rode a stationary bike for 20 minutes at a pace they could maintain. Researchers recorded their brain activity before and after the biking session.

The electrodes showed an increased rate of so-called sharp-wave ripples from the hippocampus and connections with cortical regions of the brain, which are involved in learning and memory.

“Sharp-wave ripples have long been known from animal studies to play a central role in memory,” Voss says, adding that recent studies using intracranial recordings in humans also support the importance of ripples for human memory.

“Our findings are the first to show that exercise can modulate these ripple signals in the human brain,” she says.

Researchers also observed that larger increases in heart rate during exercise were associated with larger changes in ripple activity in cortical networks, Voss adds.

What’s Already Known About Exercise, Memory, and Learning

“We know that exercise is the number-one thing we can do to enhance our memory and learning,” says Catherine Franssen, PhD, an assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences and Sustainability at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. “Exercise will enhance both our ability to learn new things and our ability to remember previously learned things.”

Movement helps pump oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood to the brain, says Dr. Franssen, who was not involved with the new study: “We’re able to activate those brain cells more effectively and energize them.”

The increased blood flow stimulates the growth of new neurons and enhances the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a molecule that strengthens connections between brain cells and supports learning, says the neurologist David Perlmutter, MD, who was not involved with the latest study.

Exercise helps build connections between neurons, which deepens and strengthens brain networks, Franssen says.

Physical activity also improves metabolism, which improves insulin sensitivity, helping blood sugar regulation and giving the brain a “more stable and reliable supply of fuel,” Dr. Perlmutter says.

“This is critically important because the brain is an energy-intensive organ, consuming roughly 20 percent of the body’s energy despite representing only a small fraction of body weight,” he adds.

The Research Has Limitations

Voss says researchers were careful to “exclude signals that contained epileptic activity. However, of course, we can’t statistically control for the accumulated effects of having epilepsy on the brain.”

The exercise-brain ripple patterns observed in the current study also closely match those observed in healthy adults using noninvasive brain imaging, such as MRI, she added.

“That convergence across very different methods is one of the strongest indicators that the effects are not specific to epilepsy, but reflect a more general human brain response to exercise,” Voss said.

Researchers also didn’t directly test memory performance, Voss notes. “While hippocampal ripples are strongly linked to memory processing in decades of neuroscience research, the next step will be to measure how exercise-related changes in ripples relate to memory performance in the same individuals.”

Future studies should also compare exercise with other everyday activities, such as sitting quietly or light movement, to determine how specific these effects are to aerobic exercise at the intensity that was studied, she says.

Satisfy Your Brain’s Exercise Craving

It’s never too early or too late to start exercising for brain health, Franssen says.

People of any age, from grade-school children to people in their nineties, can benefit from increased physical activity, Perlmutter says. “My recommendation is to consider taking advantage of the connection between physical activity and brain health across the entire range of human aging.”

Any type of exercise is great, Franssen says, but especially “repetitive behaviors,” like swimming, jogging, and walking.

“Sometimes we let the hugeness of putting in a huge fitness routine get in our way,” she says. “Having a little exercise snack every so often is also very important to improving cognition.”

Fitness

Higher Fitness Levels Amplify Brain Benefits After Exercise, Study Finds

Published

15 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Higher Fitness Levels Amplify Brain Benefits After Exercise, Study Finds

Increasing our level of physical fitness leads to a bigger release of brain-boosting proteins following one session of exercise, a new study led by a UCL researcher has found.

The study, published in Brain Research, took a group of inactive unfit participants through a 12-week training programme of cycling three times per week and made them fitter. Researchers found as their fitness increased, so did the amount of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) released following exercise, resulting in improved brain function.

Just 15 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise releases BDNF, a brain protein which is known to support the formation of new neurons and new synapses (connections between brain cells), and maintains the health of existing neurons. This is the first study to show that for unfit people, just 12 weeks of consistent training can boost the brain’s response to a single 15-minute workout.

The study, led by Dr Flaminia Ronca (UCL Surgery & Interventional Science, and the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health), involved 30 participants – 23 male and seven female – taking part in the 12-week programme. To assess fitness levels throughout the programme, participants completed VO2max tests every six weeks, which measures the maximum rate of oxygen your body can consume and use during intense exercise.

BDNF levels were measured pre- and post-VO2max testing, alongside a series of cognitive and memory tests, while also measuring changes in brain activity in the prefrontal cortex – where executive functions such as decision-making, emotion regulation, attention and impulsivity are controlled.

By the final week of the trial, results showed that baseline levels of BDNF did not change, but participants did show a larger spike of BDNF following intense exercise, compared to how their brains responded to intense exercise before the 12-week programme. This was linked to improvements in VO2max (aerobic fitness).

Higher overall BDNF levels and stronger exercise-induced increases were also associated with changes in activity across key areas of the prefrontal cortex during attention and inhibition tasks, though not during memory tasks.

Overall, the results showed that increasing physical fitness can enhance the brain’s ability to produce BDNF in response to acute bouts of exercise, which can have a strong positive influence on neural activity.

Lead author Dr Flaminia Ronca said: “We’ve known for a while that exercise is good for our brain, but the mechanisms through which this occurs are still being disentangled. The most exciting finding from our study is that if we become fitter, our brains benefit even more from a single session of exercise, and this can change in only six weeks.”

Notes to editors:

For more information or to speak to the researchers involved, please contact: Tom Cramp, UCL Media Relations , T: +447586 711698, E: [email protected]

The research paper: ‘BDNF relates to prefrontal cortex activity in the context of physical exercise’, Flaminia Ronca, Cian Xu, Ellen Kong, Dennis Chan, Antonia Hamilton, Giampietro Schiavo, Ilias Tachtsidis, Paola Pinti, Benjamin Tari, Tom Gurney, Paul W. Burgess, is published in Brain Research, March 2026,

About UCL (University College London)

UCL is a diverse global community of world-class academics, students, industry links, external partners, and alumni. Our powerful collective of individuals and institutions work together to explore new possibilities.

Since 1826, we have championed independent thought by attracting and nurturing the world’s best minds. Our community of more than 50,000 students from 150 countries and over 16,000 staff pursues academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems.

We are consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world and are one of only a handful of institutions rated as having the strongest academic reputation and the broadest research impact.

We have a progressive and integrated approach to our teaching and research – championing innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary working. We teach our students how to think, not what to think, and see them as partners, collaborators and contributors.

For 200 years, we are proud to have opened higher education to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to change the way we create and share knowledge.

We were the first in England to welcome women to university education and that courageous attitude and disruptive spirit is still alive today. We are UCL.

www.ucl.ac.uk | Read news at www.ucl.ac.uk/news/ | Follow UCL News on Bluesky and LinkedIn

Journal

Brain Research

DOI

10.1016/j.brainres.2026.150253

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

BDNF relates to prefrontal cortex activity in the context of physical exercise

Article Publication Date

4-Mar-2026

Media Contact

Tom Cramp

University College London

[email protected]

Journal
Brain Research
DOI
10.1016/j.brainres.2026.150253

Journal

Brain Research

DOI

10.1016/j.brainres.2026.150253

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

BDNF relates to prefrontal cortex activity in the context of physical exercise

Article Publication Date

4-Mar-2026

Tags
/Health and medicine/Human health/Physical exercise

bu içeriği en az 2000 kelime olacak şekilde ve alt başlıklar ve madde içermiyecek şekilde ünlü bir science magazine için İngilizce olarak yeniden yaz. Teknik açıklamalar içersin ve viral olacak şekilde İngilizce yaz. Haber dışında başka bir şey içermesin. Haber içerisinde en az 12 paragraf ve her bir paragrafta da en az 50 kelime olsun. Cevapta sadece haber olsun. Ayrıca haberi yazdıktan sonra içerikten yararlanarak aşağıdaki başlıkların bilgisi var ise haberin altında doldur. Eğer yoksa bilgisi ilgili kısmı yazma.:
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Keywords

Tags: 12-week cycling training program benefitsbrain plasticity and physical fitnessbrain-derived neurotrophic factor after exerciseeffects of aerobic exercise on BDNFexercise and neuron healthexercise-induced neurogenesisfitness level impact on brain proteinsfitness training for cognitive improvementimproving brain function through fitnessmoderate to vigorous aerobic exercise effectsphysical fitness and brain healthVO2max and brain function correlation

Fitness

Exercise Bikes With Zero Monthly Subscriptions: Home Fitness Range Announced

Published

1 day ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Exercise Bikes With Zero Monthly Subscriptions: Home Fitness Range Announced

SOLE Fitness announces new additions to its home exercise bike range, with models including built-in screens, resistance systems, and notably, zero monthly subscription fees.

Salt Lake City, United States, March 9, 2026 — SOLE Fitness has announced a new range of home exercise bikes aligning with its policy against mandatory monthly subscription fees – addressing a growing concern among cost-conscious fitness enthusiasts.

For more information, visit: https://www.soletreadmills.com/collections/bikes

The announcement comes as subscription fatigue intensifies across the home fitness market – where hidden costs of ongoing memberships have become a significant pain point for buyers. Many consumers now actively seek alternatives that deliver premium features without the financial burden of perpetual fees – and SOLE Fitness offers its range in direct response.

Technical capabilities across the range support the no-subscription experience through innovative design and robust hardware. For instance, SOLE Fitness cites the SB1200 exercise bike as a suitable option for its 10-inch touchscreen – including preloaded entertainment applications.

SOLE’s team notes that this particular model also incorporates 100 levels of adjustable magnetic resistance, offering a broad spectrum of intensity for diverse workout preferences. A 35-pound flywheel contributes to smooth, consistent pedaling motion, while the durable steel frame supports users up to 300 pounds.

Elsewhere in the range, SOLE Fitness offers options across recumbent, upright, and indoor cycling styles to accommodate different fitness goals and space constraints.

The LCR Recumbent Bike is an example of a comfortable seated design with back support, ideal for low-impact cardio sessions, coming with 40 levels of magnetic resistance. The B94 Upright Bike, meanwhile, delivers a traditional bike posture with 20 levels of resistance, suited for users seeking straightforward training without advanced touchscreen features.

Central to the value proposition is the SOLE+ App, which provides zero-cost online fitness classes to customers who own SOLE equipment. The app offers hundreds of home gym video tutorials ranging from basic to advanced routines – standing in contrast to platforms that charge separately for similar content.

As explained by SOLE Fitness, its overall range is engineered for smooth, silent rides through magnetic resistance systems, sturdy steel frames, and precision components that deliver a premium indoor cycling experience. Magnetic resistance eliminates the wear and noise associated with friction pads, while the structural integrity of the frames ensures stability during high-intensity intervals.

“Each treadmill is crafted to provide an unparalleled exercise experience, featuring robust motors, intuitive controls, and cushioned running surfaces for maximum impact absorption,” says a company representative.

Moreover, since the company’s product portfolio is designed to offer entry points at various price levels, customers have readily available access to select models that align with their own budget and training preferences.

Interested parties can browse the full selection at: https://www.soletreadmills.com/

Contact Info:
Name: Inquiries
Email: Send Email
Organization: SOLE Fitness
Address: 56 Exchange Pl., Salt Lake City, UT 84111, United States
Website: https://www.soletreadmills.com/

Release ID: 89185487

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