EFFECT OF YOGIC BREATHING TECHNIQUES ON
AUTONOMIC FUNCTIONS

SANJAY KUMAR, Regd. Ph.D. Scholar
Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, Bangalore, India

This study was conducted to assess the physiological effects of yogic breathing practices on 99 normal volunteers of a 10-day yoga camp. 56 belonged to a control group who were asked to observe and listen to instructions and lectures given to the yoga group and 43 belonged to a yoga group. Assessments were made at the beginning and ending of the10 days. Each assessment consisted of 8 minutes, recorded by a four-channel polygraph (RMS Polyrite-D, Chandigarh, India). The variables were electrocardiogram, respiratory rate, galvanic skin resistance, and finger plethysmogram amplitude. There were 5 min for the baseline and 3 min during which isometric handgrip was tested and blood pressure was checked before and after the handgrip. The yoga program consisted of breathing practices (e.g., kapalabhati, nadisuddhi, ujjayi) and some simple loosening practices for three hours twice a day. The data were analyzed using statistical package SPSS (Version 10.0). There was a significant increase (p<0.05) in galvanic skin resistance in the yoga group. The control group showed a significant increase in finger plethysmogram amplitude (p<0.05), which also increased more during isometric handgrip after 10 days of yoga (p<0.005) by Wilcoxon signed ranks test. Hence, both yoga and control groups showed a reduction in sympathetic activity in different subdivisions. This suggests that listening to instructions to relax can also reduce psychophysiological arousal as is seen following actual practice of yoga techniques.

NOSTRIL DOMINANCE AND PERFORMANCE IN LEFT
HEMISPHERE SPECIFIC CANCELLATION TASK IN
NORMAL VOLUNTEERS: A CORRELATIONAL STUDY

SASMITA SAMANTARAY, Post Graduate Student
Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, Bangalore, India

In an earlier report adult volunteers who were right-nostril dominant during normal breathing performed better on simple perceptual tasks with verbal information which are known to be carried out by the left cerebral hemisphere, compared with left nostril dominant subjects. The present study was aimed to evaluate the performance in a letter cancellation task and correlate it with nostril dominance. Subjects were normal healthy volunteers, with age range between 8 and 75 years. Nostril dominance was checked before and after the letter cancellation task for all the subjects. There were no significant differences between the scores of letters left out (p<0.867), letters wrongly cancelled (p<0.802) and total errors (p<0.958) of right-nostril dominant and left-nostril dominant subjects during normal breathing for a simple perceptual task with verbal information.

INTEGRATED APPROACH OF YOGA ON PREGNANCY OUTCOME

SATHYAPRIYA MAHARANA, Regd. Ph.D. Scholar
Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, Bangalore, India

This is a study to test the efficacy of yoga on birth outcome during pregnancy. 40 women between 18-20 weeks of pregnancy attending an antenatal clinic at Maiya Nursing Home in Bangalore were enrolled in a randomized control study. 21 women were in the yoga group and 19 women in the control group. Women were matched for age, gravida and gestational age. The yoga group practiced yoga practices, including physical postures, breathing and meditation, one hour daily, from the date of entry into the study until delivery. The control group practiced standard antenatal exercises one hour twice a day during the study period. The number of hours of labor was significantly decreased (p=0.001) and birth weight increased (p=0.003, Mann-Whitney U test) and significantly decreased in complications (p=0.000 chi-Square test), less in anesthesia requirement (p<0.001) and more number of normal delivery (p=0.05) in the Yoga group compared to the control group. The present results suggest that integrated approach of yoga during pregnancy improves birth weight, decreases labor duration, complications, the anesthesia requirement and helps for normal delivery.