Good news for aspiring yogis who've excused their way out of more yoga classes than they've taken: that last session you skipped might not have even counted as "moderate-intensity exercise" — the kind you're supposed to be doing for at least 150 minutes a week in the name of aerobic health, according to the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC)s Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

Word comes from a review recently published in the academic journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: When researchers looked at 17 existing studies on yoga and energy expenditure, they found that most of the work done during the yoga classes observed only counted as "light intensity." The CDC also consider activities such as standing, walking slowly, and lifting lightweight objects (aka putting away groceries) to be light intensity — and classify people who do no other exercise as inactive. 

That doesn't mean that yoga is a big bunch of B.S. First off, the studies involved in this review only looked at hatha yoga, the kind that tends to focus mostly on deep breathing and balance. Other types of yoga such as vinyasa (the kind that focuses on fast-moving ~flows~) could easily get you into that moderate aerobic intensity zone — but research is ongoing. The same goes for hot yoga and all those new fusion-y classes that involve light weightlifting and intermittent bursts of cardio, although the intensity of any of these activities is highly dependent on your particular practice and how much effort you put into it. 

There are many reasons to practice hatha yoga besides ticking the box on your moderate-intensity exercise requirements. It can alleviate stress, treat depression, improve your balance and body awareness, build strength slowly but surely, reduce back pain, help your body recover from Real Exercise, and enhance your flexibility. So you shouldn't write it off entirely.

Besides, there are lots of things you can and maybe already do for other aspects of your health regardless of whether they make you break a sweat — like listening to music to relax or foam rolling just because it literally feels like heaven. No one's saying those activities are less worthy of your time just because they burn fewer calories than jogging.  

If you've been relying on yoga to be your only form of exercise, you might want to think about hitting the treadmill. But if yoga's not your thing, you've gotta love it when science hand-delivers an excuse for you to skip it! 

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Headshot of Elizabeth Narins
Elizabeth Narins
Senior fitness and health editor

Elizabeth Narins is a Brooklyn, NY-based writer and a former senior editor at Cosmopolitan.com, where she wrote about fitness, health, and more. Follow her at @ejnarins.