EFFICACY OF SLEEP SPECIAL TECHNIQUE ON YOUNG HEALTHY YOGA PRACTITIONERS: A RANDOMIZED CONTROL STUDY

Abstract

Title: Efficacy of sleep special technique on young healthy yoga practitioners: A randomized control study Background: Sleep is an indicator of health. Sleep determine many aspects of our life like mood, cognitive functions such as attention and working memory, homeostasis, learning, concentration etc. which is very much important for the college students. Whereas most of the sleep related problems are found in college students worldwide. There are many previous studies showing improvement in the quality of sleep by the practice of meditation and different yoga practices. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the positive effect of SST on sleep quality, stress level and quality of life in young healthy yoga practitioners. Methods and Materials: A total of 120 students were screened and only 94 healthy male yoga practitioners were randomly allocated into two groups, experimental group n=47 and control group n=47. Experimental group practiced one month of Sleep Special Technique and control group had not exposure to yoga. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), WHOQOL BREF, and The Vedic Personality Inventory (VPI) questionnaire were administered to the participants before and after one month of SST for experimental group and one-month gap was given for control group. Results: After one month of SST result showed the significant reduction of global PSQI score (p<.001***), perceived stress scale (p<.001***), and significant improvement in all domains of QOL (p<.001***), Sattva guna (p<.001***) in experimental group compared to control group. Conclusion: One month course of SST has a significantly positive effect on overall sleep quality, quality of life and perceived stress. Transition towards sattva guna was evident during course of SST intervention.