MEASURMENT OF FIELD OF CONSCIOUSNESS, HEART RATE
COHERENCE AND HEART RATE VARIABILITY IN SCHOOL CHILDREN
- A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED STUDY

SHREEGANESH H.R., Post Graduate Student
Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, Bangalore, India

A total of 100 subjects from age range 13-17 years, selected from a personality development camp were randomly allocated into a treatment group and control group of size 50 each. Parameters for this study were (1) Heart rate coherence (2) Heart rate variability and (3) Field of consciousness as measured by a random event generator. The intervention was an integrated program of Yoga, while the control group did physical exercises. The pre- assessment was done on day 2 of the 10 day personality development camp in a residential setting. They were followed for 9 days with their respective interventions. On the 9th day the post assessment was done on the two groups. For HRC the yoga group had a significant decrease for the low value of HRC (p=0.04). The control group showed no difference. For HRV, the LF/HF ratio for the yoga group showed a significant increase in time (p=0.04) while the control group showed no change. Also, there is a marginally significant difference between the 2 groups for the LF/HF ratio (p=0.06). The HR shows a marginally significant decrease between the yoga and control groups (p=0.06) with a very significant decrease in pre-post values for both groups (p < 0.001 for the yoga group and p = 0.008 for the control group).

INFLUENCE OF MOTIVATION ON QUALITY OF LIFE
OUTCOMES IN DIABETIC SUBJECTS UNDERGOING
YOGA INTERVENTION IN A WEEK LONG CAMP

GAYATRI PRAKASH, Post Graduate Student
Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, Bangalore, India

The aim of our study was to evaluate the effects of yoga intervention using ADDQOL (Audit of Diabetes Dependent Quality of Life) questionnaire and also to evaluate the influence of motivation on quality of life outcomes in diabetes mellitus subjects attending a yoga camp. Twenty five diabetes mellitus patients (both type-I and type-II) were recruited in an open uncontrolled pilot study to participate in a week long yoga camp. Subjects were assessed at baseline and after the camp for fasting capillary glucose levels, blood pressure, body mass index and quality of life using ADDQOL instrument. Subjects were assessed for motivation using a treatment motivation questionnaire developed by the institute at the baseline. Data were analyzed using paired t test and regression analysis was done to evaluate the effect of different aspects of motivation on the above post measures. There was a significant improvement in overall quality of life following yoga intervention. Paired sample t test showed significance decrease in fasting blood sugar (p<0.001), body mass index (p<0.009) and improvement in overall quality of life (p=0.009). Regression analysis showed that help seeking aspect of motivation showed beta value of 0.35 and p value of 0.025

EFFECT OF YOGA ON QUALITY OF SLEEP IN HEALTHY PERSONS
FOLLWING A SEVEN DAYS YOGA CAMP

ASHISH KUMAR SHUKLA, Post Graduate Student
Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, Bangalore, India

Sleep disturbances are commonly encountered in sick people. Pharmacological treatment of insomnia causes drug dependency and side effects. Non-pharmacological, stress relieving yogic techniques are found to be helpful in improving quality of sleep. Hence the present study was designed to see the effect of yoga on the self-rated sleep in normal people. 281 normal people were admitted for a seven days yoga camp. They were in the age range of 10 to 80 years. The yoga techniques included mainly voluntary regulated breathing (Pranayama), loosening (Shithilikarna Vyayama) and relaxation techniques. They were evaluated by a sleep rating questionnaire (SRC) on the first and seventh day of yoga camp. The results showed a significant change in the time taken to fall asleep (average decrease: 8.28 min, P< 0.05), an increase in the total number of hours slept (average increase: 48 min, P<0.05) and in the feeling of being rested in the morning based on rating (P<0.05) after seven days of Yoga (Wilcoxon paired signed ranks test). Yoga practices improved different aspects of sleep in normal volunteers.