Biomedicine

Abstract

Introduction: Mental health along with physical health play a pivotal role in individuals’ quality of life and overall well-being. Healthcare students are particularly at risk of high stress and anxiety. Integrated yoga is a combination of physical postures (asanas), breathing exercises (pranayama), and meditation (dhyana) and has emerged as one of the most popular ways to maintain a healthy life with beneficial effects on physiological and psychological functions.
Aims: The present study was designed to assess the effect of integrated yoga as a wellness strategy on psychological parameters like depression, stress and anxiety scores (DASS-21), WHO-5 well-being index score and physiological parameters like pulse rate (PR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and body mass index (BMI) among healthcare students.
Materials and Methods: This interventional study was carried out on 84 apparently healthy volunteers with 43 subjects in intervention group and 41 students in control group. DASS 21 scores, WHO-5 well-being scores , PR, SBP,DBP and BMI were recorded at baseline and after 20 weeks of integrated yoga practice. Paired samples t-tests were conducted to evaluate the changes within each group and p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Statistically significant improvement in DASS 21 scores, WHO-5 well-being scores and decrease in PR, SBP,DBP and BMI were found in intervention group (p<0.001). In contrast, control group showed slight deterioration in the above-mentioned parameters (p<0.05) at the end of 20 weeks.
Conclusions: Integrated yoga improved the psychological and physiological well-being among healthcare students and so students should be encouraged to incorporate this wellness strategy to reap the long-lasting benefits of yoga.