EFFECTS OF PRANAYAMA AND SURYANAMASKAR YOGIC PRACTICE ON COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN MEDICAL STUDENTS

Description

Background: Recent studies have suggested that yoga reduce stress levels and anxiety accordingly reducing stress increases cognitive performance. The present study attempted to determine the combined yoga practice is associated with higher cognitive performance in medical students. Materials & Methods: All the instructions were given to the participants, they were asked to Unscramble 20 scrambled words in 5 minutes of time. The score was noted and were asked to perform yoga for four weeks. The same score was collected after yoga session and was compared with the previous values. Result: Analysis showed that the yoga group (M=15.2, SD=4.25) and the pre yoga group (M=09.49, SD=3.11) did not differ significantly on cognitive performance, p=<0.005. Conclusion: Combined effect of Pranayama and suryanamaskar are beneficial effect on improving cognitive function but it was statically insignificant.KEYWORDS:  Pranayama, suryanamaskar; Yoga; Cognitive functions.