EFFECTS OF YOGA PRACTICE ON LEARNING BEHAVIOUR AND ASSERTIVENESS AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN IN TAMILNADU

The purpose of the present study was to find out the effect of yoga practice on learning behaviour and assertiveness among school children of Tamilnadu. For this purpose, ninety male adolescents studying in socially backward region of Tamilnadu, with the age group of 15 to 17 years who were studying in Nandanar Boys Higher Secondary School, Chidambaram (Cuddalore District), Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Vallalapatty, Madurai (Madurai District) and Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Thiruvannamalai (Thiruvannamalai District), were chosen as subjects. They were divided into two equal groups, each group consisted of forty-five subjects, in which experimental group - I underwent yoga practice and experimental group - II acted as control that did not participate in any special activities apart from their regular curricular activities. The training period for the study was five days (Monday to Friday) a week for twelve weeks. Prior to and after the experimental period, the subjects were tested on learning behaviour and assertiveness. Learning behavior was surveyed by the Jegadheesh Srivastava learning behaviour Questionnaire and Assertiveness was surveyed by Rathu’s Assertiveness inventory. The Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was applied to find out any significant difference between the experimental groups and control group on selected criterion variables. The result of the study shows that the yoga practice group was significantly improved the learning behaviour and assertiveness when compared with the control group.

HOW THE INTEGRATED YOGA PRACTICE IMPACTS THE VISUAL PROCESSING OF SPECIALLY ABLED CHILDREN?

Background and objectives: To investigate if integrated yoga practice affect the Visuo-spatial Cognition of Specially Abled Children. Material and method: Eighty clinically diagnosed mentally challenged persons aged between 12 - 25 years were randomly allotted to control and study groups. Study group practiced Pranayama (Nadishodhan and Kapalbhati),Aum chanting and Meditation for 30 minutes daily, 6 days in a week for 3 weeks.Control group carried on with their normal school routine.Visual Processing was studied for a) Visual- Spatial Relation b) Picture Recognition and c) Planning.The parameters were measured twice,once before the starting of the intervention and later at the end of follow-up period. Results: Both the groups were comparable in their baseline scores.At follow-up,scores of the visual- spatial relation and picture recognition showed significant improvements in both the groups,but,the change in the scores of planning was significant only in study group. However,the improvement in all three categories were significantly higher in the study group as compared to the control group. Interpretation and Conclusion: This study demonstrates the beneficial influences of pranayama and meditation on Visual Processing, suggests that pranayama and meditation improves the performance of prefrontal lobe and other cortical and subcortical areas and their neuronal connection involved in this process. It may further contribute in improvement of overall intelligence of mentally retarded persons.

Successful ageing among a national community-dwelling sample of older adults in India in 2017–2018

This study aimed to determine the prevalence and correlates of successful ageing in older community-dwelling adults in India. The cross-sectional sample included 21,343 individuals (≥ 65 years) from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) Wave 1 in 2017–2018. Successful ageing was assessed utilizing a multidimensional concept, including five components: (1) absence of major illness, (2) free of disability, (3) no major depressive disorder, (4) social engagement and (5) life satisfaction. Overall, 27.2% had successful ageing, including 83.3% had no major diseases, 51.0% free from disability, 91.8% had no major depressive disorder, 73.6% were socially engaged and 74.6% had high life satisfaction. In the adjusted logistic regression analysis, male sex (Adjusted Odds Ratio-AOR 1.40, 95% Confidence Interval-CI 1.21–1.26), married (AOR 1.48, 95% CI 1.22–1.79), having formal education (AOR 1.47, 95% CI 1.23–1.74), high subjective socioeconomic status (AOR 1.61, 95% CI 1.29–2.01), urban residence (AOR 1.42, 95% CI 1.19–1.70), Sikhs (AOR 1.76, 95% CI 1.38–2.24), high physical activity (AOR 1.65, 95% CI 1.38–1.97), and daily Yoga practice (AOR 1.34, 95% CI 1.11–1.61) increased the odds of successful ageing, while increasing age (AOR 0.96, 95% CI 0.94–0.79), poor childhood health (AOR: 0.47, 95% CI 0.29–0.75), and underweight (AOR 0.70, 95% CI 0.61–0.81) decreased the odds of successful ageing. Almost one in three older adults in India were successfully ageing. Factors associated with successful ageing included, male sex, married, having formal education, high subjective socioeconomic status, urban residence, Sikhs, physical activity, Yoga practice, younger age, good childhood health, and not having underweight.

Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Yoga Practice on Physical Fitness in the Elderly

The purpose of this study was to meta-analyze the effects of yoga intervention on physical fitness in the elderly. The following databases were systematically searched in 25 March 2021: Cochrane, PubMed and Embase. A total of 656 papers was identified through key word combinations, finally, 12 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The main conclusions are as follows. First, yoga practice showed moderately positive effects on muscle strength, balance, mobility, and lower body flexibility, but had no significant effect on cardiorespiratory endurance and upper body flexibility. Second, sub-group analysis showed that subjects in their 60s and 70s and yoga practice for 9–12 weeks had a large positive effect on physical fitness. Yoga is a multimodal activity that improves muscle strength, balance, and flexibility in the elderly, and physical activity policies should continue to promote yoga as an activity that enhances physical and mental wellbeing in this population.

Twelve-Week Yoga vs. Aerobic Cycling Initiation in Sedentary Healthy Subjects: A Behavioral and Multiparametric Interventional PET/MR Study

Interventional yoga studies with an active control group remain scarce and are important to clarify the underlying neurobiology. We conducted an interventional study in healthy controls using simultaneous positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance (PET/MR) imaging and psychometric scales. Thirty healthy, female volunteers (28.4 ± 8.4 years) participated and were randomly assigned to a 12-week yoga or indoor cycling intervention. Before and after the intervention, [18F]FDG and [11C]UCB-J PET was performed on a simultaneous GE Signa PET/MR with volumetric imaging. Psychometric scales were evaluated on affect, mindfulness, stress, worrying, self-compassion, and interoceptive awareness. Yoga subjects scored higher on interoceptive awareness compared to baseline (p < 0.001). Cognitive (P = 0.009) and overall cognitive functioning (P = 0.01) improved after the yoga intervention compared to the cycling group. We did not observe significant differences in glucose metabolism, synaptic density, or gray matter (GM) volume. The indoor cycling group did not show changes in psychometric variables, but significant increases in relative glucose metabolism were observed in the parahippocampal/fusiform gyrus and cerebellum (P < 0.001). In conclusion, 12 weeks of yoga practice has significant effects on interoceptive awareness and perceived cognitive function in starters. Longer interventions and/or higher frequency of yoga practice may be needed to detect cerebral metabolic and/or morphologic effects on the macroscopic level.

Is Weekly Frequency of Yoga Practice Sufficient? Physiological Effects of Hatha Yoga Among Healthy Novice Women

Beneficial physical and physiological health outcomes of yoga practice are well-supported by empirical data. However, whether weekly frequency of training is sufficient to evoke positive changes, is still an open question. The present intervention study investigated the effects of 10 weekly sessions of beginner level hatha yoga with respect to indicators of physical fitness and physiological markers. 82 young women (mean age of 22.0 ± 3.83 years) participated in the study. The yoga group (N = 49) attended a yoga course consisting of 10 sessions (1.5 h each) on a weekly basis. The control group (N = 33) did not receive any intervention. BMI, body fat percentage, balance (one-leg-stand test with open and closed eyes, functional reach test), flexibility (side bend test, modified sit and reach test) core muscle strength (plank test) as well as resting heart rate (HR), and heart rate variability (HRV) were assessed 1 week before and after the course. Both frequentist and Bayesian analysis showed an improvement in flexibility and balance in the yoga group compared to the control group. The yoga group showed also increased core muscle strength. No changes with respect to BMI, body fat percentage, resting HR and HRV were found. Ninety minute beginner level hatha yoga classes were characterized by 93.39 HR and 195 kcal energy consumption on average. The present findings suggest that weekly setting of a 10-session long hatha yoga training leads to improvements in balance, flexibility and core muscle strength among healthy young women. However, for changes in BMI, body fat percentage, resting HR and HRV longer, and/or more intense interventions are needed.

ANALYSIS OF ATTITUDE TOWARDS YOGA AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS USING CLUSTERING TECHNIQUES

Yoga is an ancient practice involving physical, mental and spiritual practices. Yoga was first mentioned in the Rigveda. Yoga is seen to bring positive and holistic changes in human lives. Yoga strengthens body and relaxed the mind and hence is appreciated for its multifarious benefits. The benefits of Yoga, can be best proven on the students, looking after its memory and concentration increasing ability, developing good physic and calm mind. Present work deals with the attitude towards yoga practice of undergraduate college students of Purulia district of West Bengal, India. Response from 570 UG students is taken by a scale of attitude towards yoga. Four independent variables like Gender, Location of College, Residence of Students and Streams; and one dependent variable score of the questionnaire (attitude towards yoga practice) are considered for this study. Data Clustering is the task of grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group are more similar to each other than to those in other groups. Two-Step cluster analysis is done and five clusters are formed to take up the present study. KEYWORDS: Two-Step cluster Analysis, Undergraduate Students, Yoga, Attitude