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A Dissertation submitted by Dr. B. Srinivas
Under the guidance of Dr. Ramchandra Bhatt
Co guides Dr. H. R. Nagendra, Dr. R. Nagarathna
towards the partial fulfillment of The Master's Degree in Yogic Sciences (M.Sc.)
To
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA YOGA ANUSANDHANA SAMSTHANA
(Deemed University, Recognized by UGC, Govt. of India through HRD)
Eknath Bhavan, 19, Gavipuram Circle, K.G. Nagar,
Bangalore - 560 019, INDIA
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| Abstract: Out of 331, 60 patients were admitted for intensive 2 week yoga therapy treatment programme in a residential health home. The patients of both sexes, (age range 20-50 years) were randomly allocated to two groups experimental (yoga postures, relaxation techniques, voluntary regulated breathing, lectures on yoga philosophy) and control with comparable physical activity sessions (physical exercises, supine rest, breathing exercises, and lectures on life style). The ailments were asthma, arthritis, back pain, diabetes mellitus, digestive disorders, hypertension, and obesity. Patients were evaluated daily in first and fourth week by a) Sleep rating check-list and b) Pittsburgh Insomnia Rating Scale.
Sleep rating check-list, the number of hours slept increased significantly higher in yoga group than in control (p<0.001, Kruskal-Wallis test). All other out come measures such as time taken to fall asleep, number of times woken up, feeling of restfulness in the morning and number of times slept in the afternoon showed greater non significant improvement in yoga. Pittsburgh Insomnia Rating Scale showed significantly greater improvement in sleep analog scale in yoga than in control; sleep distress, sleep parameters and quality of life. Pearson correlation test showed a significant positive correlation between decrease in time taken to fall asleep (r= 0.460, p<0.001) and Number of hours slept (r=0.298, p<0.05) with quality of life. Conclusion: Yoga practices can contribute significantly to improve the quantum of sleep and the quality of life in patients with asthma, arthritis, back pain, diabetes mellitus, digestive disorders, hypertension, and obesity.
Key words: yoga, sleep, stress related ailments.
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| Summary & Conclusion: This randomized control study compared the effect of integrated approach of yoga therapy and physical activity group as control on 60 patients admitted with 7 different chronic ailments on the quality of life. Both SRC and PIRS measures showed that, the quantum of sleep and other measures of sleep and quality of life were significantly better in yoga group than control. All clinical parameters also showed significantly higher improvement after yoga than control group. An earlier 3 armed study on the residents of a home for the aged (age >65 yrs.) showed that yoga group improved better than non-yoga or Ayurveda group10. Greater degree of changes observed in yoga group than the control group in this randomized control design not only during the stay in the health home but also the persistent improvement till the 4th week after they returned to their normal life style would point to the beneficial effect of yoga over and above all other confounding factors. Difficulty in falling asleep, nocturnal awakening has also been found to be higher in groups with physiologic and somatoform disorders12. In the present study, most often the participants woke up because of nacturia or non-specific aches. Yoga practices are well known to bring deep relaxation, reduced sympathetic arousal, reduced anxiety, stress and oxygen consumption13 in patients with stress triggered, chronic ailments. These could be implicated as the cause for the observed in the quantum of sleep. Increased number of hours of sleep and the decrease in the time taken to fall asleep are positively correlated with the quantum of life. However, the improvement in the quantum of did not significantly correlate with the distress experienced during sleep and other parameters. These significant changes between yoga and control indicate the influence of yoga on quality of life. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that yoga practices which include yogic postures, relaxation with awareness, and inputs about yoga philosophy and emotional stability have improved the quality of sleep in institutionalized patients with different ailments better than control group. In order to objectively understand the changes in sleep architecture, further research with polysomno-graphic recordings would be required. |