1 857 101 EFFECT OF YOGA ON VIGILANCE, SELF RATED SLEEP AND STATE ANXIETY IN BORDER SECURITY FORCE PERSONNEL IN INDIA. BACKGROUND: MILITARY OCCUPATIONS REQUIRE HEIGHTENED VIGILANCE WITH RESULTANT SLEEP DISTURBANCES, INCREASED ANXIETY AND REDUCED VIGILANCE. OBJECTIVE: TO COMPARE YOGA WITH PHYSICAL TRAINING TO REDUCE INSOMNIA, ANXIETY AND INCREASE VIGILANCE IN SECURITY PERSONNEL. METHODS: ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE BORDER SECURITY FORCE PERSONNEL (BSF GROUP, MALES; MEAN AGE+/-SD = 30.4+/-7.4 YEARS) WERE COMPARED WITH 112 PERSONNEL OF A PRIVATE SECURITY FIRM (SIS GROUP). THE BSF GROUP RECEIVED YOGA FOR NINE DAYS AND THE SIS GROUP RECEIVED PHYSICAL TRAINING FOR THE SAME PERIOD. ASSESSMENTS WERE AT BASELINE AND AFTER 9 DAYS, WITH THE DIGIT VIGILANCE TEST (DVT), SPIELBERGER'S STAI-S, AND A SLEEP RATING QUESTIONNAIRE. RESULTS: (1) BETWEEN GROUPS: (I) AT BASELINE THE BSF GROUP HAD HIGHER VIGILANCE AND MORE DAYTIME NAPS COMPARED TO THE SIS GROUP AND (II) AFTER NINE DAYS THE SIS GROUP HAD HIGHER STATE ANXIETY COMPARED TO THE BSF GROUP (ANOVA, BONFERRONI ADJUSTED POST-HOC COMPARISONS; SPSS VERSION 24.0) (2) IN POST-PRE INTERVENTION COMPARISONS (I) THE BSF GROUP INCREASED VIGILANCE AND DECREASED STATE ANXIETY AFTER YOGA, WITH IMPROVED SLEEP, WHILE (II) THE SIS GROUP SHOWED INCREASED VIGILANCE AFTER PHYSICAL TRAINING. CONCLUSION: YOGA MAY IMPROVE SLEEP, REDUCE ANXIETY WHILE INCREASING VIGILANCE IN OCCUPATIONS REQUIRING VIGILANCE. 2019 2 464 38 CHANGES IN VIGILANCE, SELF RATED SLEEP AND STATE ANXIETY IN MILITARY PERSONNEL IN INDIA FOLLOWING YOGA. OBJECTIVES: TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF 9 DAYS OF YOGA ON SELF-RATED SLEEP, STATE ANXIETY AND PERFORMANCE IN A VIGILANCE TEST AMONG BORDER SECURITY FORCE (BSF) PERSONNEL. SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO BSF PERSONNEL TOOK PART IN THE TRIAL. THEY WERE ALL MALES, WITH AN AVERAGE AGE OF 30.9 +/- 7.4 YEARS. ALL OF THEM WERE INVOLVED IN GUARDING THE COUNTRY'S BORDER. THEY WERE DEPUTED FOR 9 DAYS RESIDENTIAL TRAINING IN YOGA. BEFORE AND AFTER TRAINING THEY WERE ASSESSED FOR SELF-RATED SLEEP, STATE ANXIETY AND VIGILANCE. RESULTS: THE RESULTS SUGGEST THE BENEFITS OF YOGA IN BSF PERSONNEL. THE BSF PERSONNEL SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN SCORES IN THE VIGILANCE TEST, A DECREASE IN STATE ANXIETY, AND IMPROVED SELF-RATED SLEEP. 2018 3 298 30 ALTERNATE-NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING REDUCED BLOOD PRESSURE WHILE INCREASING PERFORMANCE IN A VIGILANCE TEST. BACKGROUND REPORTS SUGGEST THAT VIGILANCE OR SUSTAINED ATTENTION INCREASES SYMPATHETIC ACTIVITY. A PERSISTENT INCREASE IN SYMPATHETIC ACTIVITY CAN LEAD TO AN INCREASE IN BLOOD PRESSURE. ALTERNATE-NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE USEFUL TO (I) IMPROVE ATTENTION AND (II) DECREASE THE SYSTOLIC AND DIASTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE. EARLIER STUDIES DID NOT REPORT SIMULTANEOUS RECORDINGS OF THE BLOOD PRESSURE AND PERFORMANCE IN VIGILANCE TESTS AFTER ALTERNATE-NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING. WITH THIS BACKGROUND, THE PRESENT STUDY WAS PLANNED TO DETERMINE IF 15 MINUTES OF ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING COULD IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE IN A VIGILANCE TEST WITHOUT AN INCREASE IN BLOOD PRESSURE. MATERIAL AND METHODS FIFTEEN HEALTHY MALE VOLUNTEERS PARTICIPATED IN THE STUDY (GROUP MEAN AGE +/-SD, 22.4+/-2.4 YEARS). PARTICIPANTS WERE ASSESSED ON 3 SEPARATE DAYS IN 3 DIFFERENT SESSIONS. THESE WERE (I) ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING, (II) BREATH AWARENESS, AND (III) SITTING QUIETLY AS A CONTROL. BLOOD PRESSURE AND THE DIGIT VIGILANCE TEST WERE SIMULTANEOUSLY ASSESSED BEFORE AND AFTER EACH SESSION. RESULTS SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE (P<0.01), MEAN ARTERIAL BLOOD PRESSURE (P<0.05), AND THE TIME TAKEN TO COMPLETE THE DIGIT VIGILANCE TEST (P<0.05) SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASED FOLLOWING ALTERNATE-NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING. THE TIME TAKEN TO COMPLETE THE DIGIT VIGILANCE TEST DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY BETWEEN SESSIONS (P<0.05). THE TIME TAKEN TO COMPLETE THE DIGIT VIGILANCE TEST WAS ALSO SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASED AFTER SITTING QUIETLY (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS ALTERNATE-NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING APPEARS TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE IN THE DIGIT VIGILANCE TEST, ALONG WITH A REDUCTION IN SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE. THIS IS SUGGESTIVE OF BETTER VIGILANCE WITHOUT SYMPATHETIC ACTIVATION. 2017 4 1132 26 EFFICACY OF YOGA FOR SUSTAINED ATTENTION IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS. SUSTAINED ATTENTION (SA) IS A VITAL FUNCTION MEDIATED BY THE RIGHT FRONTAL - PARIETAL CORTEX. THE DIGIT VIGILANCE TEST (DVT) MEASURES SA. ASSESSMENT OF SA IN STUDENTS FOR THEIR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE IS CONSIDERED TO BE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF A NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY IS TO DETERMINE SA IN STUDENTS UNDERGOING TRAINING OF INTEGRATED YOGA MODULE (IYM). A TOTAL OF 66 UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AGED BETWEEN 18-37 YEARS PARTICIPATED IN THIS STUDY WITH A SINGLE GROUP PRE-POST DESIGN. THE DVT DATA WAS COLLECTED BEFORE AND AFTER THE IYM. STATISTICAL PACKAGE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES VERSION 19 WAS USED FOR DATA ANALYSIS. THE KOLMOGOROV-SMIRNOV TEST SHOWED THAT THE DATA WERE NOT NORMALLY DISTRIBUTED. THE WILCOXON'S SIGNED RANKS TEST WAS USED TO COMPARE MEANS OF DATA. THE DATA ANALYSIS SHOWED 11.66% DECREASE (P < 0.001) IN TOTAL TIME TAKEN FOR DVT AND 31.90% DECREASE (P < 0.001) IN ERROR SCORES FOR DVT. THE PRESENT STUDY SUGGESTS THAT IYM CAN RESULT IN IMPROVEMENT OF SA AMONG STUDENTS, THUS PAVING THE WAY FOR THEIR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE. ADDITIONAL WELL-DESIGNED STUDIES ARE NEEDED BEFORE A STRONG RECOMMENDATION CAN BE MADE. 2013 5 746 29 EFFECT OF SAHAJ YOGA ON NEURO-COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM MAJOR DEPRESSION. COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS ARE IMPAIRED IN MAJOR DEPRESSION. STUDIES ON THE EFFECTS OF YOGA ON COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS HAVE SHOWN IMPROVEMENT IN MEMORY, VIGILANCE AND ANXIETY LEVELS. 30 PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM MAJOR DEPRESSION (AGE 18 TO 45 YEARS) WERE RANDOMLY DIVIDED INTO TWO GROUPS: GROUP 1: (10 MALES AND 5 FEMALES) PATIENTS WHO PRACTISED SAHAJ YOGA MEDITATION AND ALSO RECEIVED CONVENTIONAL ANTI-DEPRESSANT MEDICATION. GROUP 2: (9 MALES AND 6 FEMALES) PATIENTS WHO ONLY RECEIVED CONVENTIONAL ANTIDEPRESSANT MEDICATION. GROUP 1 PATIENTS WERE ADMINISTERED SAHAJ YOGA PRACTICE FOR 8 WEEKS. NEURO-COGNITIVE TEST BATTERY CONSISTING OF LETTER CANCELLATION TEST (LCT), TRAIL MAKING TEST 'A' (TTA), TRAIL MAKING TEST 'B' (TTB), RUFF FIGURAL FLUENCY TEST (RFFT), FORWARD DIGIT SPAN (FDS) & REVERSE DIGIT SPAN TEST (RDS) WAS USED TO ASSESS FOLLOWING COGNITIVE DOMAINS: ATTENTION SPAN, VISUO-MOTOR SPEED, SHORT-TERM MEMORY, WORKING MEMORY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS. AFTER 8 WEEKS, BOTH GROUP 1 AND GROUP 2 SUBJECTS SHOWED SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN LCT, TTA & TTB BUT IMPROVEMENT IN LCT WAS MORE MARKED IN GROUP 1 SUBJECTS. ALSO, THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN RDS SCORES IN ONLY GROUP 1 SUBJECTS (P < 0.05). THE RESULTS THEREBY, DEMONSTRATE THAT SAHAJ YOGA PRACTICE IN ADDITION TO THE IMPROVEMENT IN VARIOUS OTHER COGNITIVE DOMAINS SEEN WITH CONVENTIONAL ANTI-DEPRESSANTS, CAN LEAD TO ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENT IN EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS LIKE MANIPULATION OF INFORMATION IN THE VERBAL WORKING MEMORY AND ADDED IMPROVEMENT IN ATTENTION SPAN AND VISUO-MOTOR SPEED OF THE DEPRESSIVES. 2006 6 72 26 A FUNCTIONAL NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY STUDY OF HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING COMPARED TO BREATH AWARENESS. BACKGROUND HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING (BREATH RATE OF 2.0 HZ) HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGES IN OXY-HEMOGLOBIN IN THE PREFRONTAL REGION OF THE BRAIN. THE PRESENT STUDY ASSESSED THE EFFECTS OF HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING (HFYB) AT 1.0 HZ ON FRONTAL OXY-HEMOGLOBIN (OXY-HB) AND DEOXY-HEMOGLOBIN (DEOXY-HB). MATERIAL AND METHODS FORTY HEALTHY MALE PARTICIPANTS WERE RECRUITED FOR THE STUDY. THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP CONSISTED OF 20 PARTICIPANTS 23-40 YEARS OLD (GROUP MEAN +/-S.D., 26.4+/-4.7 YEARS) WITH AT LEAST 3 MONTHS OF EXPERIENCE PERFORMING HFYB (GROUP MEAN +/-S.D., 16.3+/-9.8 MONTHS). THE CONTROL GROUP CONSISTED OF 20 PARTICIPANTS AGES 23-38 YEARS (GROUP MEAN AGE +/- S.D., 27.4+/-4.1 YEARS), WHO WERE SEATED QUIETLY FOR THE SAME DURATION AND THEIR AVERAGE EXPERIENCE OF YOGA PRACTICE WAS (+/-S.D.) 4.3+/-2.7 MONTHS. EACH PARTICIPANT IN THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WAS ASSESSED AT 2 SESSIONS (HFYB AND BREATH AWARENESS [BAW]) ON ALTERNATE DAYS. HEMODYNAMIC CHANGES WERE ASSESSED USING A FUNCTIONAL NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY SENSOR PLACED OVER THE FOREHEAD. DATA WERE ANALYZED USING REPEATED-MEASURES ANALYSES OF VARIANCE FOLLOWED BY POST HOC BONFERRONI ADJUSTMENT. RESULTS A SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION WAS OBSERVED IN OXY-HB DURING AND AFTER HFYB ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT SIDES COMPARED TO VALUES BEFORE. WE ALSO FOUND A SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN DEOXY-HB DURING AND AFTER THE QUIET SITTING CONTROL SESSION COMPARED TO PRE-SESSION VALUES ON LEFT AND RIGHT SIDES. CONCLUSIONS THE DECREASE IN OXY-HB DURING AND AFTER HFYB SUGGESTS THAT THERE WAS NO FRONTAL ACTIVATION DURING HFYB WHEN PRACTICED AT THE RATE OF 1.0 HZ. 2016 7 885 21 EFFECT OF YOGA TRAINING ON REACTION TIME, RESPIRATORY ENDURANCE AND MUSCLE STRENGTH. THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT THE PRACTICE OF YOGA IMPROVES PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PERFORMANCE. THE PRESENT INVESTIGATION WAS UNDERTAKEN TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF YOGA TRAINING ON VISUAL AND AUDITORY REACTION TIMES (RTS), MAXIMUM EXPIRATORY PRESSURE (MEP), MAXIMUM INSPIRATORY PRESSURE (MIP), 40 MMHG TEST, BREATH HOLDING TIME AFTER EXPIRATION (BHTEXP), BREATH HOLDING TIME AFTER INSPIRATION (BHTINSP), AND HAND GRIP STRENGTH (HGS). TWENTY SEVEN STUDENT VOLUNTEERS WERE GIVEN YOGA TRAINING FOR 12 WEEKS. THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT (P < 0.001) DECREASE IN VISUAL RT (FROM 270.0 +/- 6.20 (SE) TO 224.81 +/- 5.76 MS) AS WELL AS AUDITORY RT (FROM 194.18 +/- 6.00 TO 157.33 +/- 4.85 MS). MEP INCREASED FROM 92.61 +/- 9.04 TO 126.46 +/- 10.75 MMHG, WHILE MIP INCREASED FROM 72.23 +/- 6.45 TO 90.92 +/- 6.03 MMHG, BOTH THESE CHANGES BEING STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT (P < 0.05). 40 MMHG TEST AND HGS INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY (P < 0.001) FROM 36.57 +/- 2.04 TO 53.36 +/- 3.95 S AND 13.78 +/- 0.58 TO 16.67 +/- 0.49 KG RESPECTIVELY. BHTEXP INCREASED FROM 32.15 +/- 1.41 TO 44.53 +/- 3.78S (P < 0.01) AND BHTINSP INCREASED FROM 63.69 +/- 5.38 TO 89.07 +/- 9.61 S (P < 0.05). OUR RESULTS SHOW THAT YOGA PRACTICE FOR 12 WEEKS RESULTS IN SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN VISUAL AND AUDITORY RTS AND SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN RESPIRATORY PRESSURES, BREATH HOLDING TIMES AND HGS. 1992 8 1726 35 PERFORMANCE IN A CORSI BLOCK-TAPPING TASK FOLLOWING HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING OR BREATH AWARENESS. BACKGROUND: UNINOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING PRACTICES HAVE IMPROVED SPATIAL MEMORY SCORES. THERE HAS BEEN NO ASSESSMENT ON THE EFFECT OF HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING (HFYB) ON WORKING MEMORY AND SPATIAL MEMORY SCORES USING THE CORSI BLOCK-TAPPING TASK (CBTT). OBJECTIVES: THE PRESENT STUDY WAS PLANNED TO ASSESS THE IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF HFYB AND BREATH AWARENESS (BAW) COMPARED TO A CONTROL SESSION ON PERFORMANCE IN A CBTT. METHODS: FIFTEEN PARTICIPANTS OF BOTH SEXES WITH AGES BETWEEN 18 AND 24 YEARS (GROUP MEAN AGE +/- STANDARD DEVIATION, 20.0 +/- 1.6 YEARS; 10 FEMALES) WERE RECRUITED FOR THE TRIAL FROM A UNIVERSITY IN NORTH INDIA. EACH PARTICIPANT WAS ASSESSED IN THREE SESSIONS CONDUCTED ON 3 SEPARATE DAYS AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THE THREE SESSIONS WERE (I) HFYB, (II) BAW, AND (III) QUIET SITTING (QS). THE DURATION OF THE INTERVENTION WAS 18 MIN. THE PARTICIPANTS WERE ASSESSED BEFORE AND AFTER ALL THE THREE SESSIONS. REPEATED-MEASURES-ANALYSES OF VARIANCE FOLLOWED BY POST HOC TESTS WITH BONFERRONI ADJUSTMENT WERE PERFORMED TO COMPARE DATA BEFORE AND AFTER ALL THE THREE SESSIONS. RESULTS: BAW RESULTED IN AN IMPROVEMENT IN BACKWARD TOTAL SCORES (P < 0.05) AND THE BACKWARD CORSI SPAN (P < 0.05; ONE TAILED). CONCLUSIONS: THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT BAW IMPROVES PRIMARY WORKING MEMORY, SPATIAL MEMORY, AND SPATIAL ATTENTION. HFYB DID NOT CAUSE ANY CHANGE. 2019 9 1420 29 IMPROVED PERFORMANCE IN THE TOWER OF LONDON TEST FOLLOWING YOGA. TWENTY GIRLS BETWEEN 10 AND 13 YEARS OF AGE, STUDYING AT A RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO TWO GROUPS. ONE GROUP PRACTICED YOGA FOR ONE HOUR FIFTEEN MINUTES PER DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK, WHILE THE OTHER GROUP WAS GIVEN PHYSICAL TRAINING FOR THE SAME TIME. TIME FOR PLANNING AND FOR EXECUTION AND THE NUMBER OF MOVES REQUIRED TO COMPLETE THE TOWER OF LONDON TASK WERE ASSESSED FOR BOTH GROUPS AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF A MONTH. THESE THREE ASSESSMENTS WERE SEPARATELY TESTED IN INCREASINGLY COMPLEX TASKS REQUIRING 2-MOVES, 4-MOVES AND 5-MOVES. THE PRE-POST DATA WERE COMPARED USING THE WILCOXON PAIRED SIGNED RANKS TEST. THE YOGA GROUP SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN PLANNING TIME FOR BOTH 2-MOVES AND 4-MOVES TASKS (53.9 AND 59.1 PERCENT RESPECTIVELY), EXECUTION TIME IN BOTH 4-MOVES AND 5-MOVES TASKS (63.7 AND 60.3 PERCENT RESPECTIVELY), AND IN THE NUMBER OF MOVES IN THE 4-MOVES TASKS (20.9 PERCENT). THE PHYSICAL TRAINING GROUP SHOWED NO CHANGE. HENCE YOGA TRAINING FOR A MONTH REDUCED THE PLANNING AND EXECUTION TIME IN SIMPLE (2-MOVES) AS WELL AS COMPLEX TASKS (4, 5-MOVES) AND FACILITATED REACHING THE TARGET WITH A SMALLER NUMBER OF MOVES IN A COMPLEX TASK (4-MOVES). 2001 10 2797 27 YOGA THERAPY FOR PROMOTING EMOTIONAL SENSITIVITY IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS. BACKGROUND: STUDENTS NEED EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EI) FOR THEIR BETTER ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE. THERE ARE THREE IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF EI: EMOTIONAL SENSITIVITY (ES), EMOTIONAL MATURITY (EM) AND EMOTIONAL COMPETENCY (EC), WHICH MOTIVATE STUDENTS TO RECOGNIZE TRUTHFULLY, INTERPRET HONESTLY AND HANDLE TACTFULLY THE DYNAMICS OF THEIR BEHAVIORAL PATTERN. OBJECTIVE: THE STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO ASSESS ES IN THE STUDENTS UNDERGOING YOGA THERAPY PROGRAM IN THE FORM OF YOGA INSTRUCTOR'S COURSE (YIC) MODULE. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FOUR YIC STUDENTS WITH 25.77 +/- 4.85 YEARS OF MEAN AGE PARTICIPATED IN THIS STUDY OF 21 DAYS DURATION (A SINGLE GROUP PRE-POST DESIGN). THE ES DATA WAS COLLECTED BEFORE (PRE) AND AFTER (POST) YIC MODULE USING EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT TEST DEVELOPED BY DR DALIP SINGH AND DR N K CHADHA. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: MEANS, STANDARD DEVIATIONS, KOLMOGOROV-SMIRNOV TEST, AND WILCOXON SIGNED RANK TEST WERE USED FOR ANALYZING THE DATA WITH THE HELP OF SPSS 16. RESULTS: THE DATA ANALYSIS SHOWED 3.63% SIGNIFICANT INCREASE (P < 0.01) IN ES. CONCLUSION: THE PRESENT STUDY SUGGESTS THAT YIC MODULE CAN RESULT IN IMPROVEMENT OF ES AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, THUS PAVING THE WAY FOR THEIR ACADEMIC SUCCESS. ADDITIONAL WELL-DESIGNED STUDIES ARE NEEDED BEFORE A STRONG RECOMMENDATION CAN BE MADE. 2014 11 1131 30 EFFICACY OF YOGA FOR MENTAL PERFORMANCE IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS. BACKGROUND: WITH GROWING SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE, YOGA IS EMERGING AS AN IMPORTANT HEALTH BEHAVIOR-LIFESTYLE MODIFYING MODULE TO ACHIEVE HOLISTIC HEALTH AT PHYSICAL, MENTAL, EMOTIONAL, SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL LEVELS. BRAIN WAVE COHERENCE (BWC) RECORDINGS FROM THE SURFACE OF THE SKULL ARE ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFERENT COGNITIVE PROCESSES AND PLAYS BOTH CRITICAL AND USEFUL ROLES IN YOGA WITH WIDE RANGE OF FUNCTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE. THE PSYCHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES THAT CHARACTERIZE THE EFFICACY OF YOGA FOR BETTER MENTAL PERFORMANCE IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS HAVE NOT BEEN STUDIED ADEQUATELY. OBJECTIVE: THE STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO ASSESS THE MENTAL PERFORMANCE THROUGH BWC ANALYSIS IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS UNDERGOING INTEGRATED YOGA MODULE (IYM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: THE IYM SUBJECTS (N=30) WITH 25.77+/-4.85 YEARS OF MEAN AGE PARTICIPATED IN THIS SINGLE GROUP PRE-POST STUDY. THE BWC DATA WAS COLLECTED BEFORE (PRE) AND AFTER (POST) THE 21 DAYS IYM USING BRAIN MASTER (MODEL: 2E PART # 390-001), MICHIGAN, USA. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: MEANS, STANDARD DEVIATIONS, KOLMOGOROV-SMIRNOV TEST AND WILCOXON SIGNED RANK TEST WERE USED FOR ANALYZING DATA WITH THE HELP OF SPSS-16. RESULTS: A COMPLETE STATISTICAL AND SPECTRAL ANALYSIS SHOWED 43.24% INCREASE (P<0.001) IN DELTA, 9.13% INCREASE (P=0.289) IN THETA, 57.85% INCREASE (P<0.001) IN ALPHA, 17.65% DECREASE (P=0.136) IN BETA AND 9.19% INCREASE (P=0.586) IN GAMMA BWC BETWEEN PRE AND POST INTERVENTION MEASUREMENTS. CONCLUSION: BWC STUDY SHOWED SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN BOTH DELTA AND ALPHA WAVE COHERENCE SUGGESTING THAT IYM CAN RESULT IN IMPROVEMENT OF COHERENT AND INTEGRATED BRAIN FUNCTIONING AMONG STUDENTS, THUS PAVING THE WAY FOR THEIR BETTER MENTAL PERFORMANCE. ALTHOUGH THIS PRELIMINARY RESEARCH IS PROMISING, MORE WELL-DESIGNED STUDIES ARE NEEDED BEFORE A STRONG RECOMMENDATION CAN BE MADE. 2013 12 2362 36 VOLITIONAL YOGA BREATHING INFLUENCES ATTENTION AND ANXIETY: AN EXPLORATORY RANDOMIZED CROSSOVER STUDY. BACKGROUND: PREVIOUS STUDIES ASSESSED YOGA BREATHING PRACTICES INDIVIDUALLY. THIS EXPLORATORY, RANDOMIZED CROSSOVER STUDY ASSESSED ATTENTION AND ANXIETY FOLLOWING FOUR YOGA BREATHING PRACTICES, BREATH AWARENESS, AND QUIET SEATED REST. MATERIALS AND METHODS: THIRTY-EIGHT MALE VOLUNTEERS BETWEEN 20 AND 37 YEARS (GROUP MEAN AGE +/- SD; 24.08 +/- 4.01 YEARS) WERE ASSESSED IN SIX SESSIONS IN RANDOM ORDER (WWW.RANDOMIZER.ORG) ON SEPARATE DAYS. THE SESSIONS WERE: (I) ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING, (II) BELLOWS YOGA BREATHING, (III) BUMBLEBEE YOGA BREATHING, (IV) HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING, (V) BREATH AWARENESS, AND (VI) QUIET SEATED REST. THE SESSIONS WERE FOR 18 MIN EACH. SIX LETTER CANCELLATION TEST (SLCT) AND SPIELBERGER'S STATE TRAIT ANXIETY INVENTORY-STATE (STAI-S) WERE ADMINISTERED PRE AND POST EACH SESSION. DATA ANALYSIS USED GENERAL LINEAR MIXED MODEL ANALYSIS, WITH FIXED EFFECT OF STATES (PRE AND POST) AND SESSIONS. RESULTS: A SIGNIFICANT MAIN EFFECT OF STATES WAS OBSERVED ON TOTAL ATTEMPTED (F1,407 = 5.374, P = 0.021) AND NET ATTEMPTED SCORES (F1,407 = 6.178, P = 0.013) OF THE SLCT, WITH A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN SCORES FOLLOWING HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING (PADJ = 0.031 FOR TOTAL ATTEMPTED SCORES; PADJ = 0.029 FOR NET ATTEMPTED SCORES). ALSO, A SIGNIFICANT MAIN EFFECT OF STATES ON STAI-S SCORES WAS OBSERVED (F1,407 = 33.979, P < 0.001), WITH A SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN SCORES FOLLOWING ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING (PADJ = 0.001), BELLOWS YOGA BREATHING (PADJ = 0.008), BUMBLEBEE YOGA BREATHING (PADJ = 0.002), AND HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING (PADJ = 0.042) COMPARED TO THE CORRESPONDING PRE STATE. THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT MAIN EFFECT OF SESSIONS (F5,407 = 3.043, P = 0.010) ON STAI-S SCORES, WITH SCORES POST ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN POST BREATH AWARENESS (PADJ = 0.037). CONCLUSION: FOLLOWING HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING SUSTAINED ATTENTION WAS BETTER THAN BEFORE WHILE STATE ANXIETY DECREASED IN POST-PRE COMPARISONS OF ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING, BELLOWS YOGA BREATHING, BUMBLEBEE YOGA BREATHING, AND HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BREATHING PRACTICES MAY BE DUE TO DIFFERENCES IN DEGREE OF VOLITIONAL REGULATION OF BREATHING AND IN THE BREATH PATTERNS MODIFIED VOLITIONALLY. THE GENERALIZABILITY OF THE FINDINGS WAS LIMITED BY INCLUDING AN ALL MALE, YOGA EXPERIENCED SAMPLE. FUTURE RESEARCH SHOULD INCLUDE PARTICIPANTS OF BOTH GENDERS AND COULD INCLUDE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF YOGA EXPERIENCE, WITH ASSESSMENTS INCLUDING OBJECTIVE MEASURES OF ATTENTION AND ANXIETY. 2022 13 898 16 EFFECT OF YOGASANAS ON THE VISUAL AND AUDITORY REACTION TIME. VISUAL AND AUDITORY REACTION TIME (VRT, ART) WAS STUDIED IN 83 HEALTHY MALE SUBJECTS OF 30-40 YEARS OF AGE WHO HAD NEVER PRACTICED YOGASANAS BEFORE. THESE SUBJECTS WERE DIVIDED INTO TWO GROUPS VIZ. GROUP A WHOSE VRT AND ART WAS DETERMINED AFTER 1 HR. YOGASANAS AND GROUP B WHOSE ART AND VRT WAS DETERMINED AFTER 6 WEEKS YOGASANAS TRAINING PROGRAMME. VRT AND ART SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN GROUP A (P LESS THAN .05) AND GROUP B (P LESS THAN .001). 1989 14 442 24 CEREBROVASCULAR DYNAMICS ASSOCIATED WITH YOGA BREATHING AND BREATH AWARENESS. AIMS: BREATH FREQUENCY CAN ALTER CEREBRAL BLOOD FLOW. THE STUDY AIMED TO DETERMINE BILATERAL MIDDLE CEREBRAL ARTERIAL HEMODYNAMICS IN HIGH-FREQUENCY YOGA BREATHING (HFYB) AND SLOW FREQUENCY ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING (ANYB) USING TRANSCRANIAL DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY. METHODS: HEALTHY MALE VOLUNTEERS WERE ASSESSED IN TWO SEPARATE TRIALS BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER HFYB (2.0 HZ FOR 1 MIN, N = 16) AND ANYB (12 BREATHS PER MINUTE FOR 5 MIN, N = 22). HFYB AND ANYB WERE SEPARATELY COMPARED TO BREATH AWARENESS (BAW) AND TO CONTROL SESSIONS. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: THE DATA WERE ANALYZED USING REPEATED-MEASURES ANOVA WITH BONFERRONI ADJUSTED POST HOC TESTS. RESULTS: DURING HFYB THERE WAS A DECREASE IN END-DIASTOLIC VELOCITY (EDV) AND MEAN FLOW VELOCITY (MFV) (P < 0.01 FOR LEFT AND P < 0.05 FOR RIGHT MIDDLE CEREBRAL ARTERIES; MCA) WITH AN INCREASE IN PULSATILITY INDEX (PI) FOR THE RIGHT MCA (P < 0.05). DURING ANYB, THERE WAS A BILATERAL DECREASE IN PEAK SYSTOLIC VELOCITY (P < 0.05 FOR LEFT AND P < 0.01 FOR RIGHT MCA), EDV (P < 0.01) AND MFV (P < 0.01 FOR LEFT AND P < 0.001 FOR RIGHT MCA) AND AN INCREASE IN PI (P < 0.01). DURING BAW OF THE TWO SESSIONS THERE WAS A DECREASE IN LATERALIZED FLOW AND END-DIASTOLIC VELOCITIES (P < 0.05) AND AN INCREASE IN PI (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: CHANGES IN PEAK FLOW VELOCITIES AND PULSATILITY INDICES DURING AND AFTER HFYB, ANYB, AND BAW SUGGEST DECREASED CEREBROVASCULAR BLOOD FLOW AND INCREASED FLOW RESISTANCE BASED ON DIFFERENT MECHANISMS. 2022 15 1354 15 IMMEDIATE EFFECT OF THREE YOGA BREATHING TECHNIQUES ON PERFORMANCE ON A LETTER-CANCELLATION TASK. THE EFFECTS OF THREE YOGA BREATHING PRACTICES WERE EVALUATED ON PERFORMANCE ON A LETTER-CANCELLATION TASK WHICH IS A LEFT-HEMISPHERE DOMINANT TASK. THE THREE YOGA BREATHING PRACTICES (RIGHT, LEFT, AND ALTERNATE NOSTRIL BREATHING) WERE SELECTED BECAUSE UNILATERAL FORCED NOSTRIL BREATHING STIMULATES THE CONTRALATERAL HEMISPHERE. THERE WERE 20 MALE VOLUNTEERS WHOSE AGES RANGED FROM 20 TO 45 YEARS (M AGE=28.4 YR., SD=5.7). ALL SUBJECTS WERE ASSESSED BEFORE AND AFTER FOUR SESSIONS, I.E., RIGHT NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING, LEFT NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING, ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING, AND BREATH AWARENESS AS A CONTROL. THE LETTER-CANCELLATION TASK SCORES WERE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED, I.E., THERE WERE FEWER ERRORS FOLLOWING RIGHT AND ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING (WILCOXON PAIRED SIGNED-RANKS TEST). THE IMPROVED PERFORMANCE MAY BE RELATED TO THE ENHANCEMENT OF CONTRALATERAL HEMISPHERE FUNCTION FOUND WITH SELECTIVE NOSTRIL BREATHING. 2007 16 1360 23 IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF YOGA BREATHING WITH INTERMITTENT BREATH HOLDING ON RESPONSE INHIBITION AMONG HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS. BACKGROUND: THERE IS VERY LITTLE EVIDENCE AVAILABLE ON THE EFFECTS OF YOGA-BASED BREATHING PRACTICES ON RESPONSE INHIBITION. THE CURRENT STUDY USED STOP-SIGNAL PARADIGM TO ASSESS THE EFFECTS OF YOGA BREATHING WITH INTERMITTENT BREATH HOLDING (YBH) ON RESPONSE INHIBITION AMONG HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: THIRTY-SIX HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS (17 MALES + 19 FEMALES), WITH MEAN AGE OF 20.31 +/- 3.48 YEARS FROM A UNIVERSITY, WERE RECRUITED IN A WITHIN-SUBJECT REPEATED MEASURES (RM) DESIGN. THE RECORDINGS FOR STOP SIGNAL TASK WERE PERFORMED ON THREE DIFFERENT DAYS FOR BASELINE, POST-YBH, AND POST YOGIC BREATH AWARENESS (YBA) SESSIONS. STOP-SIGNAL REACTION TIME (SSRT), MEAN REACTION TIME TO GO STIMULI (GO RT), AND THE PROBABILITY OF RESPONDING ON-STOP SIGNAL TRIALS (P [R/S]) WERE ANALYZED FOR 36 VOLUNTEERS USING RM ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE. RESULTS: SSRT REDUCED SIGNIFICANTLY IN BOTH YBH (218.33 +/- 38.38) AND YBA (213.15 +/- 37.29) GROUPS WHEN COMPARED TO BASELINE (231.98 +/- 29.54). NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES WERE OBSERVED IN GO RT AND P (R/S). FURTHER, THE CHANGES IN SSRT WERE NOT SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT AMONG YBH AND YBA GROUPS. CONCLUSION: BOTH YBH AND YBA GROUPS WERE FOUND TO ENHANCE RESPONSE INHIBITION IN THE STOP-SIGNAL PARADIGM. YBH COULD BE FURTHER EVALUATED IN CLINICAL SETTINGS FOR CONDITIONS WHERE RESPONSE INHIBITION IS ALTERED. 2018 17 416 28 BODY TEMPERATURE AND ENERGY EXPENDITURE DURING AND AFTER YOGA BREATHING PRACTICES TRADITIONALLY DESCRIBED AS COOLING. BACKGROUND IN TRADITIONAL YOGA TEXTS, SHEETALI AND SITKARI PRANAYAMAS ARE DESCRIBED AS COOLING. THE PRESENT STUDY WAS AIMED AT RECORDING THE SURFACE BODY TEMPERATURE, OXYGEN CONSUMED, AND CARBON DIOXIDE ELIMINATED BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER PERFORMANCE OF SHEETALI AND SITKARI PRANAYAMAS. MATERIAL AND METHODS SEVENTEEN HEALTHY MALE VOLUNTEERS WITH AGES BETWEEN 19 TO 25 YEARS (AVERAGE AGE 20.7+/-1.8 YEARS) WERE ASSESSED IN 4 SESSIONS, VIZ. SHEETALI PRANAYAMA, SITKARI PRANAYAMA, BREATH AWARENESS AND QUIET LYING, ON 4 SEPARATE DAYS, IN RANDOM SEQUENCE. THE AXILLARY SURFACE BODY TEMPERATURE (TRUSCOPE II, SCHILLER, CHINA) AND METABOLIC VARIABLES (QUARK CPET, COSMED, ITALY) WERE RECORDED IN 3 PERIODS: BEFORE (5 MINUTES), DURING (18 MINUTES), AND AFTER (5 MINUTES), IN EACH OF THE 4 SESSIONS. THE HEAT INDEX WAS CALCULATED IN THE BEFORE AND AFTER PERIODS, BASED ON RECORDINGS OF AMBIENT TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY. DATA WERE ANALYZED USING SPSS (VERSION 24.0). RESULTS BODY TEMPERATURE INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY DURING SHEETALI AND SITKARI (P<0.05, P<0.01; RESPECTIVELY) WHILE IT DECREASED AFTER BREATH AWARENESS AND QUIET LYING DOWN (P<0.01, P<0.001; RESPECTIVELY) WHEN COMPARED WITH RESPECTIVE POST-EXERCISE STATES. OXYGEN CONSUMPTION INCREASED BY 9.0% DURING SHEETALI (P<0.05) AND BY 7.6% DURING SITKARI (P<0.01) WHILE IT DECREASED SIGNIFICANTLY DURING (P<0.05) AND AFTER (P<0.01) QUIET LYING DOWN COMPARED TO RESPECTIVE PRE-EXERCISE STATES. CONCLUSIONS THE RESULTS DO NOT SUPPORT THE DESCRIPTION OF THESE YOGA BREATHING PRACTICES AS COOLING. THESE YOGA BREATHING PRACTICES MAY BE USED TO INDUCE A MILD HYPERMETABOLIC STATE. 2020 18 673 23 EFFECT OF A ONE-MONTH YOGA TRAINING PROGRAM ON PERFORMANCE IN A MIRROR-TRACING TASK. THE PERFORMANCE IN A MIRROR STAR TRACING TASK WAS ASSESSED IN TWO GROUPS OF VOLUNTEERS (YOGA AND CONTROL) WITH 26 PEOPLE IN EACH GROUP, AND AGE RANGE BETWEEN 18 AND 45 YEARS. THE STAR TO BE TRACED WAS SIX POINTED AND THE OUTLINE WAS MADE UP OF 60 CIRCLES (4 MM IN DIAMETER). AT THE END OF ONE MONTH THE YOGA GROUP SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN TERMS OF AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF CIRCLES CROSSED (P<0.001, WILCOXON PAIRED SIGNED RANKS TEST) FOR BOTH HANDS AND A DECREASE IN THE NUMBER OF CIRCLES LEFT OUT FOR THE RIGHT HAND (P<0.05). THE CONTROL GROUP SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN NUMBER OF CIRCLES CROSSED FOR THE LEFT HAND ALONE (P<0.05) AT THE END OF A MONTH ATTRIBUTED TO RE-TEST. THE STUDY SUGGESTS THAT ONE MONTH OF YOGA IMPROVED REVERSAL ABILITY, EYE-HAND CO-ORDINATION, SPEED AND ACCURACY WHICH ARE NECESSARY FOR MIRROR STAR TRACING. 2006 19 804 15 EFFECT OF YOGA ON AEROBIC AND ANAEROBIC POWER OF MUSCLES. AEROBIC POWER (VO2 MAX) AND ANAEROBIC POWER WERE ESTIMATED IN MEDICAL STUDENTS BEFORE AND AFTER SIX WEEKS OF YOGIC TRAINING. A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN AEROBIC POWER AND A SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN ANAEROBIC POWER WAS OBSERVED. THIS MAY BE DUE TO CONVERSION OF SOME OF THE FAST TWITCH (F.T.) MUSCLE FIBRES INTO SLOW TWITCH FIBRES (S.T.) DURING YOGIC TRAINING. 1991 20 1356 21 IMMEDIATE EFFECT OF TWO YOGA-BASED RELAXATION TECHNIQUES ON COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM RELAPSING REMITTING MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY. COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT (CI) IS AN IMPORTANT FEATURE OF RELAPSING REMITTING MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (RRMS). YOGIC RELAXATION TECHNIQUES HAVE BEEN FOUND USEFUL IN IMPROVING VARIOUS COGNITIVE DOMAINS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. EIGHTEEN SUBJECTS (13 FEMALES) IN THE AGE RANGE OF 51.5 +/- 12.72 YEARS WITH THE DIAGNOSIS OF RRMS BY A NEUROLOGIST (MCDONALD CRITERIA 2010) SINCE LAST 18.16 +/- 12.59 YEARS WERE RECRUITED INTO THE STUDY FROM A NEURO-REHABILITATION CENTRE IN GERMANY. ASSESSMENTS WERE DONE BEFORE AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER TWO RANDOMLY ALLOCATED 30-MIN SESSIONS OF YOGIC RELAXATION: CYCLIC MEDITATION (CM) AND SR (SUPINE REST OR SHAVASANA). ASSESSMENTS WERE DONE FOR ATTENTION, PSYCHOMOTOR PERFORMANCE, INFORMATION PROCESSING SPEED, EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS, AND IMMEDIATE AND DELAYED RECALL USING STANDARD PSYCHOMETRIC TOOLS. RMANOVA WAS APPLIED TO ANALYSE THE DATA USING SPSS VERSION 10. BOTH CM AND SR SESSIONS IMPROVED SCORES ON DIGIT SYMBOL SUBSTITUTION TEST (DSST) (P < 0.01) AND AUDITORY VERBAL LEARNING TEST (AVLT) (P < 0.05). THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER PERFORMANCE IN TRAIL MAKING TEST (TMT)-A AND FORWARD DIGIT SPAN (FDS) AFTER CM AS COMPARED TO SR (P < 0.01). YOGIC RELAXATION TECHNIQUES MAY HAVE AN IMMEDIATE ENHANCING EFFECT ON PROCESSING SPEED, PSYCHOMOTOR PERFORMANCE, AND RECALL OF RRMS PATIENTS. CM IS BETTER THAN SR IN IMPROVING PROCESSING SPEED, SHORT-TERM MEMORY, AND VERBAL WORKING MEMORY. 2016