Profile of mood states and stress-related biochemical indices in long-term yoga practitioners

Kazufumi Yoshihara,Tetsuya Hiramoto,Chiharu Kubo,Nobuyuki Sudo

doi:10.1186/1751-0759-5-6

Kazufumi Yoshihara, Tetsuya Hiramoto + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1751-0759-5-6

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Abstract

BackgroundPrevious studies have shown the short-term or intermediate-term practice of yoga to be useful for ameliorating several mental disorders and psychosomatic disorders. However, little is known about the long-term influences of yoga on the mental state or stress-related biochemical indices. If yoga training has a stress-reduction effect and also improves an individual's mental states for a long time, long-term yoga practitioners may have a better mental state and lower stress-related biochemical indices in comparison to non-experienced participants. This study simultaneously examined the differences in mental states and urinary stress-related biochemical indices between long-term yoga practitioners and non-experienced participants.MethodsThe participants were 38 healthy females with more than 2 years of experience with yoga (long-term yoga group) and 37 age-matched healthy females who had not participated in yoga (control group). Their mental states were assessed using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire. The level of cortisol, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and biopyrrin in urine were used as stress-related biochemical indices.ResultsThe average self-rated mental disturbance, tension-anxiety, anger-hostility, and fatigue scores of the long-term yoga group were lower than those of the control group. There was a trend toward a higher vigor score in the long-term yoga group than that in the control group. There were no significant differences in the scores for depression and confusion in the POMS between the two groups. The urine 8-OHdG concentration showed a trend toward to being lower in the long-term yoga group in comparison to the control group. There were no significant differences in the levels of urine biopyrrin or cortisol.ConclusionsThe present findings suggest that long-term yoga training can reduce the scores related to mental health indicators such as self-rated anxiety, anger, and fatigue.

Highlights

Previous studies have shown the short-term or intermediate-term practice of yoga to be useful for ameliorating several mental disorders and psychosomatic disorders
Profile of mood states There were some significant differences between the control and the long-term yoga group in the Profile of Mood States (POMS) scores (Table 2)
There were no significant differences in the scores for depression and confusion in the POMS

Summary

Introduction

Previous studies have shown the short-term or intermediate-term practice of yoga to be useful for ameliorating several mental disorders and psychosomatic disorders. This study simultaneously examined the differences in mental states and urinary stress-related biochemical indices between long-term yoga practitioners and non-experienced participants. It has been demonstrated that the practice of yoga improves the mental state by lowering the levels of anxiety, depression and anger [18,19,20,21]. Sareen et al demonstrated that 12 weeks’ intervention with yoga reduced tension-anxiety, depression, anger-hostility, fatigue, and confusion scores in chronic pancreatitis patients [21]. While these limited studies have revealed that yoga can improve the self-rated tension-anxiety, depression, anger-hostility, or fatigue scores, this improvement has only been shown after short-term or intermediate-term practice of yoga. The potential effects of long-term yoga practice on a person’s mental state have not been investigated

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