A fascinating new body of research was published last week that aims to study the effect of yoga practice on the illness perception, and wellbeing of healthy adults during 4–10 weeks of lockdown due to COVID19 outbreak.
The findings are complex and refreshingly take into account numerous factors, but in sum, the overall conclusion was: “Evidence supports that yoga was found as an effective self- management strategy to cope with stress, anxiety and depression, and maintain wellbeing during COVID19 lockdown”
A report by the World Economic Forum estimates that about 2.6 billion people around the world have been in some kind of lockdown that may lead to second form of stress-related disorder epidemic in the second half of 2020. This indicates the need for an urgent action to reduce the adverse effects of the COVID19 lockdown on the general well-being of people.
Even though there are some studies supporting that yoga can be used as complementary and alternate therapy for mental health, there is need for empirical research studies to provide evidence for yoga as effective strategy for self-management of stress-related problems during COVID19.
Previous research has suggested that yoga can be used as a non-pharmaceutical measure or as a complement to drug therapy for treatment or cure of modern epidemic diseases like mental stress, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
In this study, it was found that yoga practitioners had lower depression, lower stress, lower anxiety, higher wellbeing, and higher peace of mind than the other spiritual practitioners and non-practitioner group. Interestingly, the other spiritual practitioners were also found to have a significantly higher peace of mind than the non-practitioners. The other spiritual practitioner group also reported lower depression, anxiety, stress and higher wellbeing than the non-practitioner group, however the difference was not found to be statistically significant in this study. Possibly the other spiritual practices; reading Holy Scriptures and rendering seva (selfless service) to the needy and destitute provided solace and peace of mind. A previous study has also reported a positive association between reading scriptures and positive affect and sukha (happiness) and a negative association with negative affect and dukkha (unhappiness). As for the non-practitioner group, participants that reportedly followed none of the yoga or spiritual practices, also reported the highest mean score of depression, anxiety and stress and lowest wellbeing and peace of mind.
A significant effect of duration of practice was found on illness perception, and wellbeing related measures. Long term practitioners reported higher personal control and lower illness concern in contracting COVID19 than the mid-term or beginner group. The long- term and mid-term practitioners also reported perceiving lower emotional impact of COVID19 and lower risk in contracting COVID19 than the beginners. The general wellbeing was reported higher by the long term and mid- term practitioners than the beginners group. Further, the long term practitioners were found to have highest peace of mind, lowest depression and anxiety with no significant difference in the mid-term and the beginner group. In an earlier study, sustained practice of yoga is reported to enhance physical strength, promote and improve respiratory and cardiovascular function. The improved physiological functions are believed to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and enhance overall well-being. In line with the outcomes from this study, the regular practice has also been argued to lead changes in life perspective, self-awareness, a sense of balance between body and mind and generally a positive outlook to life that maintains general wellbeing even in difficulties.
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There’s plenty to delve into in this study, and its worth taking a more in depth look. The study ultimately concludes “The evidence further supports that yoga could be used as a complementary and alternative therapy for the stress related problems due to COVID19. It may also help health practitioners in further promoting yoga-based interventions to facilitate the self-management of the mental health issues due to COVID19.”
Access research in full here
