Effects of integrated yoga on quality of life and interpersonal relationship of pregnant women.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of integrated yoga on the quality of life and interpersonal relationships in normal pregnant women. METHODS: One hundred and two pregnant women between 18 and 20 weeks of gestation who met the inclusion criteria were recruited from the obstetric units in Bangalore and were randomly assigned to two groups of yoga (n = 51) and control (n = 51). Women with medical conditions that could potentially lead to pregnancy complications and those with abnormal fetal parameters were excluded. The yoga group received integrated yoga while control group received standard antenatal exercises, both for 1-h three times a week from 20th to 36th week of gestation. Pre and post assessments were done using WHOQOL-100 and FIRO-B questionnaires. RESULTS: Of the six domains of WHOQOL-100, between groups analysis showed significant improvements in the yoga group compared to the control in the physical (P = 0.001), psychological (P < 0.001), social (P = 0.003), and environmental domains (P = 0.001). In FIRO-B, the yoga group showed significant improvements in 'Expressed Inclusion' (P = 0.02) and 'Wanted Control' (P = 0.009) domains compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: The integrated yoga is an efficacious means of improving the quality of life of pregnant women and enhancing certain aspects of their interpersonal relationships.

Treating the climacteric symptoms in Indian women with an integrated approach to yoga therapy: a randomized control study.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of yoga on the climacteric symptoms, perceived stress, and personality in perimenopausal women. DESIGN: One hundred twenty participants (ages 40-55 y) were randomly divided into two study arms, ie, yoga and control. The yoga group practiced an integrated approach to yoga therapy comprising surya namaskara (sun salutation) with 12 postures, pranayama (breathing practices), and avartan dhyan (cyclic meditation), whereas the control group practiced a set of simple physical exercises under supervision of trained teachers for 8 weeks (1 h daily, 5 days per week). The assessments were made by Greene Climacteric Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and Eysenck's Personality Inventory before and after the intervention. RESULTS: Of the three factors of the Greene Climacteric Scale, the Mann-Whitney test showed a significant difference between groups (P < 0.05) in the vasomotor symptoms, a marginally significant difference (P = 0.06) in psychological factors but not in the somatic component. Effect sizes were higher in the yoga group for all factors. There was a significantly greater degree of decrease in Perceived Stress Scale scores (P < 0.001, independent samples t test) in the yoga group compared with controls (between-group analysis) with a higher effect size in the yoga group (1.10) than the control (0.27). On the Eysenck's Personality Inventory, the decrease in neuroticism was greater (P < 0.05) in the yoga group (effect size = 0.43) than the control group (effect size = 0.21) with no change in extroversion in either the yoga or control group. CONCLUSIONS: Eight weeks of an integrated approach to yoga therapy decreases climacteric symptoms, perceived stress, and neuroticism in perimenopausal women better than physical exercise.