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This hot workout trend might not be health hack it seems.
Experts are warning fitness fanatics that hot yoga, popularized by TikTok influencers and A-list celebrities, could pose health risks.
Like the name suggests, the workout consists of doing yoga in high temperatures of around 105 degrees with 40% humidity — conditions that can put “extreme stress” on the cardiovascular system.
“I’ve seen how the intense heat forces the heart to work overtime to cool the body,” Dr. Veronika Matutyte, a lecturer at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, told the Daily Mail.
“This isn’t just a mild increase in heart rate but a significant physiological demand [and] coupled with the electrolyte imbalances caused by profuse sweating, [it] can create a perfect storm.”
The temperatures of hot yoga, also known as Bikram yoga, carries a risk of “cardiac arrhythmias, heat stroke, or other serious and even fatal complications,” Matutyte explained.
“While the deep stretching and mental focus can be beneficial for some, I find that the risks particularly to the cardiovascular system are real, significant, and shouldn’t be underestimated,” she said.
“Don’t assume that just because you’re young or feel healthy, you’re immune to these risks,” she continued. “The heat can affect all of us, and it’s always better to err on the side of caution. I’ve seen the consequences of underestimating these risks and I can attest that they can be devastating.”
The practice promises to improve flexibility and mobility, with the heat allowing for deeper stretches, according to Today. Additionally, hot yoga also purports stress reduction and boosted heart health.
On TikTok, the tag #hotyoga has been used on thousands of videos.
Content creators — who are often drenched in sweat — record themselves in the heated workout classes, with some calling it the “hardest workout” they’ve done.
“Hot yoga is no joke,” creator Katie Gallagher said in a video online, comparing the temperature to “the gates of hell.”
But one influencer said the fitness class “kicked my butt,” while another admitted she would “faint” if she ever tried it.
Feeling light-headed and sick during hot yoga is typically a sign of dehydration due to the high heat and amount of sweat you’re excreting, according to experts.
That is why Alice Toyonaga, the co-founderfounder of Modo Yoga LA, advises hydrating before and after hot yoga class. Chugging liquids during the class “is not going to make much of a difference” if you’re already feeling ill because you’re probably already dehydrated, she explained to Today.
It also carries the risk of injury, according to sports medicine physician Dr. Jordan D. Metzl.
“The risk is you can overstretch a hamstring or a quad or a hip, and sometimes put yourself in a position where you’re getting a little more stretch out of that muscle than it’s used to being,” Metzl, who works at Hospital for Special Surgery, told Today.
“You can sometimes make an injury a little more pronounced than it would normally be because you get the position a little more exaggerated than you normally would be because you don’t feel it as much when you’re in that really hot environment.”
His piece of advice? “Just listen to your body.”
“You just have to be smart about not looking at the person next to you and trying to emulate them,” he said.
For newbies, Toyonaga recommended starting slow.
“The first three to five classes, you’re getting used to the heat. That’s what you’re doing,” she said. “You need to rest as much as you need to rest in that room, so that we’re getting used to the heat. So if you lie there for the whole hour, just pretend you’re on the beach in Mexico. You’re still doing it.’”
