Mind-Body Practices Gain Popularity

According to new data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), Americans continue to turn to Yoga, Pilates, Meditation, and other mind-body activities as leading ways to improve health.

The NHIS “is the most current and reliable source of information on the use of specific complementary health approaches by U.S. adults and children,” says David Shurtleff, PhD, acting director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

In 2017, Yoga was the most commonly used complementary health approach, practiced by over 35 million American adults, or 14.3% of the population.  This is an increase of almost 13 million yogi’s in just five years.  Yoga barely beat out Meditation in total, practiced by 14.2% of adults, but outpaced it in growth, as Americans flocked to the contemplative practice, tripling its numbers in the same time period.

Women seem to embrace the mind-body connection more than men, as the NHIS study showed they were more than twice as likely to practice Yoga.  Even though men’s numbers were higher when it came to meditation (11.8% of the population), women still took the top spot (16.3%).

Shurtleff concluded, “The survey data suggest that more people are turning to mind and body approaches than ever before.”

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