How practicing yoga can reduce your health insurance cost in the UAE
When looking across the sea of fitness options available in the market, one particular form of exercise stands out from the rest. With a history going back several millennia and records pointing to India as its origin, yoga is universally accepted as the go-to fitness option to improve health and wellbeing.
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With its proven benefits such as relieving stress and improving strength from head to toe, yoga is also associated with reducing health insurance costs in the UAE. Interested to know how? Read along as this article by Pacific Prime Dubai explores how yoga helps to reduce health insurance costs in the UAE while providing numerous health benefits to those that practice the ancient discipline.
What is yoga?
In a nutshell, yoga is a practice that involves physical poses, focus, and deep breathing. The combination of both mind and body is what makes yoga so attractive. It can be done virtually anywhere and enhanced by nature and sounds that promote concentration. There are many branches of yoga, but for the sake of this article, we’ll focus on the benefits of practicing yoga and how they translate into affordable health insurance premiums.
What are the benefits of yoga?
Yoga has numerous physical and mental health benefits, some of which include:
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Building muscle strength and enhancing flexibility
“The beautiful thing about yoga is that if you have a little time and a little space, you can gain a lot of flexibility and strength.” – Yoga Journal
Believe it or not, yoga is considered to be a strength-based practice that involves all the muscle types in the body. By using your bodyweight alone, you can improve physical strength and increase muscle tone. Unlike using free weights like dumbbells, yoga is a whole-body workout and can be challenging for beginners. But with practice and discipline, you will also enhance your flexibility which opens up more benefits for your body.
(Tip: For those starting new, focus on your breathing as tension in the body can make certain movements hard to achieve. Once you are at ease, your body will feel light and relaxed, which allows you to be more in control. More so, you will feel your joints, especially the hips, open up. Over time you will be able to attempt more challenging moves, thus yield more benefits. Here are 10 important yoga poses for beginners.)
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Reducing stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain
“Yoga can relieve depression, anxiety, fatigue, and sleep disturbances, especially when it incorporates breath control and/or meditation” – Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, World Health Organization
Across the UAE, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to many feeling stressed at work and worried about their health as well as their loved ones. Even those that are disciplined and successful will succumb to stress during this difficult time.
Fortunately, the therapeutic effects of yoga are well known in the fitness world and, if practiced correctly, can lower your levels of stress and anxiety, and even prevent depression. As breathing forms one of the essential components of yoga, by concentrating on your diaphragm and chest muscles, you’ll immediately reduce your attention to any negative or worrying thoughts and focus your mind on the present.
With your mind now focused on breathing, you’ll instinctively build awareness of how your mind works and be able to manage stress. Thus, practicing yoga regularly will benefit the mind and is beneficial for long-term stress management.
(Tip: Find a quiet and well-ventilated place to practice yoga. Distractions can interrupt your ability to focus and perform moves. You are encouraged to start within the comfort of your own home. Get a soft mat to use when performing yoga moves that can help protect you from falls and soften your landing. Also, your joints like knees and elbows won’t feel as sore after practicing.)
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Enhancing overall wellbeing and quality of life
“Regular yoga practice appears to correlate with increased wellbeing, including better sleep, better body awareness, weight loss, and greater happiness.” – Harvard Medical School
Without a doubt, practicing yoga regularly will help you realize the importance of good health, along with living the right lifestyle such as eating healthily and stopping unhealthy habits like smoking. As you develop a better understanding and grow your experience around yoga, you’ll instinctively want to keep maintaining your routine. Inevitably, you will see results such as better sleep; greater flexibility across your body, more energy to perform work; and much more as you begin achieving milestones.
(Tip: To maintain your wellbeing and quality of life, connect with others who practice yoga and share your experiences through social media like YouTube or Instagram. Getting others involved like your loved ones can help you grow a circle of like-minded practitioners that is both healthy for your mind and promotes physical exercise. The main thing is to look at it from a positive perspective and have fun!)
How can yoga lower my health insurance costs?
Yoga can help reduce your health insurance costs and, like many other fitness options, it doesn’t involve anything but practice, discipline, and a well-maintained routine. As already mentioned, incorporating yoga into your everyday life enables you to stay fit and healthy, both mentally and physically. Since local and international health insurers in the UAE determine the premium rates based on a buyer’s fitness status, if you are already in good health then you are guaranteed the best rate.
(For further reading: Download our free Cost of International Health Insurance Report 2020-2021 to discover the key drivers shaping health insurance in Dubai and learn about the current health insurance trends regionally and globally.)
Health insurers categorize the risk level of individuals during the underwriting process
When an underwriter reaches a conclusion that you are leading a healthy lifestyle and exercising frequently, you’ll get the benefit of paying lower premiums. Generally, insurers see a healthy individual with no pre-existing conditions as someone less prone to falling ill, thus reducing the chances of making a claim on a policy taken out.
Given this outcome, it is beneficial to continue practicing yoga as it promotes health and wellbeing, something insurers will look out for on your application.
Extend your health insurance coverage by practicing yoga
Practicing yoga on regular basis can lower your risk of developing chronic health conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. This is great when looking for an affordable health insurance cover that offers the most benefits in terms of coverage. More so, after a year of coverage without any claims, your insurer is likely to reward you by adding additional benefits like discounts on your premiums or certain health brands and/or services. By keeping yourself healthy and working to achieve these incentives, your body and mind are likely to remain healthy. As a result, yoga is not only good for your health and wellbeing, but it is also great for your bank account too.
Final thoughts
As discussed, yoga is the go-to fitness option for you if you want to improve and maintain your health. Over time, you will see the added benefits of yoga, whether that’s through better strength and flexibility or less stress and anxiety.
Additionally, with good health comes savings in the form of affordable health insurance quotes from local and global health insurers. So if you are new to yoga, continue practicing and reach out to Pacific Prime Dubai for impartial advice across several health insurance plans.
Contact us today for impartial advice along with a free quote and plan comparison.
His expert view and wealth of knowledge on insurance can also be found in his blogs for China, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
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