Case Studies Of Yoga For Stress Reduction During Covid-19 "shelter In Place" Conditions

Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of yoga and physical exercise on cortisol levels and blood pressure during periods of stress caused by COVID19 "shelter in place" orders. METHODS: Subjects were two older adults (male and female, mean age 64). No other subjects were included due to Georgia State’s "shelter-in-place" conditions in the USA, during the IRB approved study. Activity diaries were maintained listing, 1) trips made to necessary stores between 9 and 11 am, and 2) activities performed between 11 am and 12 noon (designated as either yoga or aerobic exercise or sedentary desk work). Subjects 1) filled saliva sample tubes according to manufacturer directions (ZRT Laboratory) for cortisol determination, 2) measured oral body temperature and 3) measured wrist blood pressure (BP) with an Omron HEM-605 digital monitor at 7 am and 12 noon. Yoga sessions lasted 20 minutes (Pullen, 2009). Aerobic exercise consisted of a 20 minute brisk walk on a motorized treadmill and/or elliptical machine, at moderate intensity, as described by ACSM Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (2000). Participants answered the Perceived Stress Scale and Pandemic Stress Index instruments at study conclusion. Sentiment analysis scores of broadcast news were extracted from the New York Times to assess stress from daily reports. RESULTS: Study was conducted from April 4 -24, 2020 under "shelter in place" orders. Participants both scored low stress from the stress instruments, while the news sentiment varied, with definite negative scores. While trends in diastolic BP, heart rate and cortisol levels were inconsistent between the interventions of physical activity or yoga compared to sedentary activity, a definite trend was seen between systolic BP and the news sentiment daily measure. As the daily news sentiment score changed from -0.42 to -0.47, SBP increased from -10 to +35 mmHg change between mornings to afternoon. Correlation coefficient was 0.19 for N = 11. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of correlation in diastolic BP, heart rate and cortisol levels with intervention was probably due to small participant numbers and short study span. The correlation of systolic BP with news sentiment analysis was surprising, and indicated such measures should be included in human subject’s research concerning stress measures as a possible confounder.