Everyone, regardless of age, has a difficult time keeping up with their schedules in the modern world, whether they are at work, school, or at home. This unavoidably has a negative impact on both physical and mental health, as seen by the increased stress levels, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular diseases that are being reported on a big scale around the world. A significant internal organ that, in addition to the heart, brain, lungs, digestive system, and kidneys, experiences a reduction in function is the liver.
Other internal organs that experience this decline in performance include the spleen and the pancreas. The liver is a large organ that is reddish-brown in colour and is located on the right side of the abdomen. It plays a number of important roles, such as filtering blood from the digestive system, metabolising drugs, rupturing fats for the purpose of lipid metabolism, synthesising proteins for the transport of fatty acids, and detoxifying the system of harmful wastes.
When the liver is damaged, the cells that make up the liver are no longer able to carry out the functions that are essential to the body. This can result in a number of illnesses, including fatty liver disease, jaundice, hepatic cirrhosis, fibrosis, hepatitis, liver failure, and liver cancer. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to keep one’s liver in tip-top shape in order to guarantee that harmful compounds are eliminated from the body and to forestall the development of any hepatic ailments.
Read more here about the causes, symptoms, and treatment options for cirrhosis of the liver.
In addition to consuming a well-rounded diet, drinking plenty of water, and maintaining good sleeping patterns, the time-honored practise of Yoga, which has its origins in India and dates back thousands of years, offers significant benefits that enhance liver function. The practise of yoga includes a number of different asanas, which are exercises that involve stretching and bending the body, concentrating on deep breathing, and flexing the muscles. These movements help to reduce stress and inflammation in the liver, accelerate fat conversion for the body’s energy needs, and also facilitate detoxifying processes and improve blood circulation to and from hepatic tissues, all of which contribute to an enhanced ability of the liver to perform its functions.
Exercises from the yoga tradition that have been shown to protect liver health:
Balasana, also known as the Child’s Pose, requires you to get down on your knees while maintaining a straight spine. Now gently bend forward such that both of your thighs come into contact with your chest. Continue to bend forward until your head is below your knee and hits the ground. Raise both of your arms behind you in a straight line and place them on each side of your legs with your palms facing down toward the ground. Hold this position for 20–25 seconds, take a break for a few seconds, and then repeat this process two or three times.
Anulom Vilom Pranayama (Alternate Nostril Breathing)
Take a position on the ground with your legs crossed, or, if that’s not feasible, try sitting in padmasana or artha padmasana. Put both hands on the knees of the people in front of you. First, while firmly pressing the right thumb on the right nostril, take a breath in via the left nostril. After five to ten seconds, remove the thumb from the right nostril and exhale through that nose while simultaneously pressing the middle finger firmly on the left nostril to close it off. Repeat this process, but this time take a breath in through your right nostril and let it out through your left. Continue doing this cycle for another ten to fifteen minutes.
Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)
You should be lying on the ground with your stomach touching the ground, your feet a little bit apart from one another, and your arms along the side of the body. Raise your lower legs and maintain their stability by grabbing hold of your ankles with your hands while you do so. While doing so, lift your torso and legs off the surface of the water and take a full breath. Hold this position for as many seconds as you can, and then lower your upper body and legs back down to the floor in a slow, smooth motion.
Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose)
Maintaining your balance on all four of your limbs, place your arms down in front of you in a straight line, turn your head so that it is looking forward, bend your knees and stretch your lower legs outwards so that they resemble the legs of a table. Form a V-shaped structure by slowly lifting your hips while exhaling and extending your arms and elbows to create the position. Extend your arms to bring your body even higher into the air, maintain this pose for a few minutes, then slowly relax as you bring yourself back down to the table position.
To begin the Naukasana, also known as the Boat Pose, lie down on the ground in a flat position with your back facing down. Put both arms down at your sides and keep them there. In order to get your breathing patterns under control, take few deep breaths and then let them out slowly.
The next step is to simultaneously lift both feet off the ground while simultaneously lifting your upper body off the ground. Position both hands so that they are facing forward and stretched out between the torso and the knees. Maintaining this posture, which resembles a boat, for at least five minutes will help you achieve increased muscular flexibility and balance. Exhale, relax, and slowly bring your body down to the earth by bringing your attention there.
Yoga’s beneficial effects on a fatty liver
It is common knowledge that the liver is one of the organs in the body that plays the most important role. As a result, maintaining its good health and full functionality is an imperative requirement. At this point, the question that has to be asked is: what is the most promising and natural technique to keep a liver healthy? Yoga is the correct response to the question. There are particular asanas in yoga that are beneficial to the liver and assist improve its overall health. The practise of yoga helps to stimulate the working of the liver enzymes and also helps to improve the functionality of the spleen.
There are some asanas that, by applying pressure to the liver, not only help to improve general liver function but also help to strengthen the organ itself. The energy that was previously stored as fat in the liver is burned off in the process of doing yoga postures, causing the fat to vanish along with it. Scar tissue that has formed as a result of chronic liver illness makes it impossible for the body to receive adequate oxygenation or have normal blood flow. Therefore, the liver is unable to eliminate all harmful bacteria, processed lipids, and pathogenic germs.
According to the most recent research, practising yoga may be very advantageous in situations like the one described above. Because yoga is known to ensure that every part of the body receives freshly oxygenated blood, it can also help ensure that the liver is able to do its role properly. The following is a list of some of the asanas that are part of the yoga practise that can assist alleviate the symptoms linked with liver ailments.
In order to maintain a healthy liver and avoid any potential risks, yoga, along with a balanced diet, is required. There are a few food items that, in addition to being healthful, are also beneficial to the liver. Patients diagnosed with CLD who drink coffee regularly have been shown to have a reduction in the excessively high levels of liver enzymes.
The accumulation of fat in the liver may be avoided by consuming a diet that includes leafy green vegetables such as kale, Brussels sprouts, and spinach. The consumption of fish such as salmon, which is abundant in omega-3 fatty acids, contributes to the decrease of inflammation that occurs inside the liver.
The inclusion of oatmeal in the diet, which is beneficial for weight maintenance due to its high fibre content, is recommended. In addition to being rich in good fats, including avocado in your diet can help slow down the damage that is being done to your liver.
According to the findings of research, the presence of whey protein in milk offers the liver protection against suffering further injury. Sunflower seeds contain a high concentration of vitamin E and are an excellent food choice for preventing additional damage to the liver. If a person is receiving medical treatment from a physician, then that individual is obligated to take all of their prescribed medications on a consistent basis as directed by the attending physician.
