For people who like to sweat, hot yoga can help you achieve a feeling of calmness and relaxation without an intense workout, says Scupp. “You can get the same level of sweat as you would running 10 miles, but you don’t have to work as hard to get it,” she says.
Hot Yoga Can Be Great for Stress Relief (if You Like to Sweat)
Hot yoga, like other types of yoga, can be great for stress relief or stress management, says Scupp. “It’s a moving meditation.”
If you don’t love to sweat, you’re probably not missing out by choosing a regular-temperature yoga class over a hot one, Laskowski adds. Although some people love a good sweat, there’s no evidence that sweating itself provides health benefits, he explains. “Sweating is primarily a means of temperature control,” he says.
Hot Yoga Might Allow You to Stretch More Deeply
The hot room can help increase flexibility, says Scupp — which can feel great for people who do other types of intense workouts in which their muscles get really tight. “We get a lot of men in here who say, ‘I don’t do yoga, I’m not flexible.’ But then they go into the hot room and their muscles really loosen up. They’re able to achieve all kinds of stretches that they’ve never been able to do before,” she says.
But that extra flexibility means you need to be careful not to overstretch your muscles and injure yourself. It’s important to stay within your limits and pay attention to your body to avoid injury, says Laskowski.
“In a class environment it can be tempting to try to keep up with everyone around you,” he says. But that’s not necessarily a good thing in a heated yoga class where stretching too far can lead to muscle tearing and damage.
Hot Yoga Raises Heart Rate and Core Body Temperature
Compared with traditional yoga, hot yoga raises heart rate and core body temperature as the body works harder to cool itself in a hot, humid room. This added cardiovascular strain can mimic moderate aerobic exercise and may improve cardiovascular fitness and heat tolerance in healthy individuals.
However, the increased heat load also raises the risk of dehydration, dizziness, and heat-related illness — particularly for beginners, people who overexert themselves, or those with underlying health conditions. For hot yoga to be beneficial rather than risky, proper hydration, pacing, and listening to your body are essential.
Regular Hot Yoga Practice May Improve Strength, Balance, and Flexibility
When practiced consistently over weeks or months, hot yoga has been linked with improvements in functional fitness, including better balance, flexibility, and body composition. Participants in studies showed gains in flexibility and range of motion, likely because heat helps muscles warm up and stretch more easily.
Some research also suggests potential benefits for muscle strength, bone health, and overall physical performance, though more high-quality studies are needed to confirm these effects and determine how they compare with traditional yoga or other forms of exercise.
Hot Yoga May Offer Some Cardiometabolic Benefits
Some research included in the review suggests that hot yoga may offer cardiometabolic benefits, meaning it could positively influence factors linked to heart and metabolic health. For example, small studies have found improvements in cholesterol levels, blood lipid profiles, and vascular function, which are markers associated with cardiovascular risk. The heat and sustained movement may help the body adapt in ways similar to moderate aerobic exercise, potentially supporting better blood flow and metabolic regulation over time.
However, experts caution that the evidence is still limited. It’s not yet clear whether these benefits are unique to hot yoga or simply reflect the effects of regular physical activity — and studies often lack direct comparisons with traditional, nonheated yoga or other forms of exercise. So while the findings are promising, more rigorous research is needed to determine how meaningful these cardiometabolic effects are in the long term.
Mental Health Benefits Are Possible but Not Yet Well Established
Early research suggests that hot yoga may offer mental health benefits in addition to its physical effects. Some studies have found that people practicing hot yoga report improvements in mood, overall sense of well-being, mindfulness, and positive emotional experiences, especially immediately after sessions. The combination of movement, heat, and focused breathing may help reduce tension and promote relaxation in the moment, which can contribute to a more positive outlook over time.
However, the evidence so far is limited. Most of the studies in this area are small, short-term, or lack comparison groups, so researchers can’t yet say for certain whether hot yoga improves mental health more than traditional yoga or other forms of exercise. More high-quality research is needed to determine how reliable and long-lasting these psychological effects are, and who might benefit most.
A six-week randomized controlled trial involving nearly 300 yoga beginners found that practicing hot yoga was associated with meaningful improvements in psychological well-being. Compared with a control group, participants who took hot yoga classes reported greater life satisfaction, mindfulness, peace of mind, and overall perceptions of health, along with more frequent positive emotions — especially after classes.
The benefits were strongest among participants who started the study with lower levels of well-being, suggesting hot yoga may be particularly helpful for people looking to boost mood and mental resilience.
Is Hot Yoga More of a Workout Than Traditional Yoga?
“I would certainly consider hot yoga a form of exercise,” says Scupp.
As with any physical activity, the more you move in yoga, the more calories you burn. Although many people associate sweating with calorie burning and weight loss, that’s not the case.
Sweating is your body’s method of cooling itself and not a measure of how much weight you’ll keep off.
In other words, just because you sweat more in a hot yoga class than in a normal-temperature yoga class, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re working harder or burning more calories.
Hot yoga is definitely a form of movement and exercise — and it can be very helpful for people trying to improve their fitness or lose weight, Scupp says. But she says it typically delivers more benefits in terms of relaxation, stress relief, and muscle recovery rather than calorie burning.
“It’s a great supplement to an existing exercise regimen,” she says. A lot of runners or people who do things like CrossFit or martial arts enjoy hot yoga, she says. “It can be a way to keep their muscles loose and flexible.”
Read the full article here
