Abstract
Perinatal depression impacts maternal and child health, and little is known about effective interventions. The effects of prenatal Hatha yoga on cortisol, affect and depressive symptoms were investigated in 51 women. Twice during pregnancy, yoga group participants reported on affect and provided a saliva sample before and after a 90-min prenatal Hatha yoga session. Corresponding measures were obtained from yoga and control group participants on days of usual activity. Depressive symptoms were assessed in pregnancy and post partum. Cortisol was lower (p < .01) and positive affect higher (p < .001) on yoga compared to usual activity days. Negative affect and contentment (p < .05) improved more in response to the yoga session. Yoga group participants showed fewer postpartum (p < .05) but not antepartum depressive symptoms than control group participants. Findings indicate that prenatal Hatha yoga may improve current mood and may be effective in reducing postpartum depressive symptoms.
Highlights
Antepartum depression (APD) and postpartum depression (PPD), disorders characterized by mood changes during pregnancy and after delivery, negatively impact maternal and child physical and mental health [1,2,3,4]
We proposed that women practicing yoga during pregnancy would show greater decreases in cortisol and greater improvements in affect in response to a 90-minute yoga session relative to a “usual activity” within-subject comparison condition, and a between-subject control group
The present study examined whether women practicing yoga during pregnancy would show acute health benefits reflected in more adaptive cortisol and affective responses to a single 90-minute yoga session, and longer-term benefits as reflected by reduced perinatal depressive symptoms
Summary
Antepartum depression (APD) and postpartum depression (PPD), disorders characterized by mood changes during pregnancy and after delivery, negatively impact maternal and child physical and mental health [1,2,3,4]. Yoga has provoked particular interest given its increasing acceptance in the West 34 and the growing evidence of its association with improvements in affect [35,36,37,38], decreases in depressive symptoms [39,40,41], and reductions in cortisol [36,42,43,44,45] in non-pregnant populations. We proposed that women practicing yoga during pregnancy would show greater decreases in cortisol and greater improvements in affect in response to a 90-minute yoga session relative to a “usual activity” within-subject comparison condition, and a between-subject control group. Because psychological and physiological states have been linked to depressive symptoms, we further posited that cortisol and negative affect would be positively associated, and positive affect negatively associated with perinatal depressive symptoms
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