Preventive aspect of ayurveda and yoga towards newly emerging disease COVID-19

Impact of Yoga on anxiety, stress and sleep quality among health care professionals during public health crisis

BACKGROUND

Health Care Professionals (HCPs) working on the frontlines of health care emergencies/pandemics often experience elevated anxiety, stress and reduced quality of sleep. Yoga is a mind-body practice that has been proven to effective in improving physical and mental health.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of integrated Yoga intervention on mental health measures and sleep quality among HCPs working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

It was a quasi-experimental study on 110 HCPs, including Doctors and nursing staff, with an age range of 20 to 65 years who were recruited through a convenience sampling method and assigned to a Yoga group (n = 55) or a control group (n = 55).The Yoga group received a weekly one-hour Yoga session followed by a 30-minute self-practice three times a week at home for one month. The control group followed routine activity. Heart rate (HR), Blood Pressure, stress measures (Perceived Stress and visual analogue Scale for Stress), COVID-related anxiety, Sleep Quality, Quality of life and Preservative Thinking were assessed before and after the intervention.

RESULTS

A significant decrease in stress measures, COVID-19-related anxiety and fear, and perseverative thinking was noticed in the Yoga group. Sleep quality and quality of life also improved significantly. The control group showed no significant change. At one month, the Yoga group showed significantly greater improvement in stress measures, COVID-19-related anxiety and fear, perseverative thinking, sleep quality and quality of life compared to the control group.

CONCLUSION

Yoga practice during the public health crisis would help reduce anxiety and stress and improve sleep among HCPs. Further, RCT studies are warranted.

Can Yoga, Qigong, and Tai Chi Breathing Work Support the Psycho-Immune Homeostasis during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Narrative Review

Breathing is crucial in life; nevertheless, the healthcare community often overlooks the health potential of breathing techniques. Conscious manipulation of breathing to achieve specific health goals is found in yoga, Qigong and Tai Chi. This paper reviews the value of breathing exercises as a foremost mechanism for promoting, recuperating and maintaining health. Practices involving breathing techniques are described, and their prophylactic or therapeutic characteristics are explored. The main goals of this review are: (i) to summarize the evidence supporting the hypothesis that breathing practices have a significant beneficial impact on human health; (ii) to provide a deeper understanding of traditional biofeedback practices, particularly yoga, Qigong and Tai Chi, and outline their focus on breathing techniques; (iii) to outline specific immune-related responses, relevant for COVID-19 disorders; and (iv) to call for committed attention and action from the scientific community and health agencies in promoting the implementation of a practical and costless health program based on breathing techniques. This review shows the health potentials of breathing practices and exercises, which, by having a high benefit-cost ratio, could be selected and implemented as a primary standard routine in public health programs.

Well-being and its relationship with sports and physical activity of students during the coronavirus pandemic

The main goal of this correlational study is to examine the changes in the amount and type of physical activity of students of various study programs during the coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, the motives for these changes as well as their relationship with general well-being are investigated. Therefore, 243 students (sport science, humanities, natural sciences) answered questions concerning (a) the amount and type of their physical activity before and during the pandemic, (b) their well-being and (c) their optimism/pessimism. The main result of the study is that the type and the motives for sports and physical activity changed for the study participants during the coronavirus pandemic: Team sports and swimming decreased, while individual sports and physical activity not associated with a sports club/business and with digital media increased. In this study the difference in sports and physical activity seemed to be related to well-being, especially for the students of sport science and humanities. To conclude the study indicated that a change occurred in the type of sports and physical activity as well as change in the motives for physical exercise in students during the pandemic.