Mental Stress: Neurophysiology and Its Regulation by Sudarshan Kriya Yoga

• Published in: International journal of yoga Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 67 - 72
• Main Authors: Chandra, Sushil, Jaiswal, Amit Kumar, Singh, Ram, Jha, Devendra, Mittal, Alok Prakash
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01.05.2017; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Analysis; Anxiety; Artificial neural network; Asymmetry; Biomedical engineering; Brain research; cognition; determination test; Development and progression; electrocardiogram; electroencephalogram; Electroencephalography; Emotions; Engineering; frontal brain asymmetry; Health aspects; Heart; International conferences; Medicine; Mental depression; mental stress; Neurophysiology; Nuclear medicine; Original; Poincare plot; Power; R&D; reactive stress tolerance; Research & development; Society; Spectrum analysis; Stress; Stress (Psychology); Sudarshan Kriya Yoga; Yoga; reactive stress tolerance; determination test; electrocardiogram; cognition; Poincare plot; Artificial neural network; frontal brain asymmetry; Sudarshan Kriya Yoga; electroencephalogram; mental stress
• ISSN: 0973-6131; 2231-2714
• DOI: 10.4103/0973-6131.205508

The present study focuses on analyzing the effects of Sudarshan Kriya yoga (SKY) on EEG as well as ECG signals for stress regulation. To envision the regulation of stress Determination Test (DT) has been used. We have chosen a control group for contriving a cogent comparison that could be corroborated using statistical tests. A total of 20 subjects were taken in the study, of which 10 were allotted to a control group. Electroencephalograph was taken during a DT task, before and after SKY the sky session with 30 days of SKY session given to the experimental group. No SKY was given to the control group. We quantified mental stress using EEG, ECG and DT synergistically and used SKY to regulate it. We observed that alpha band power decreases in the frontal lobe of the brain with increasing mental stress while frontal brain asymmetry decreases with increasing stress tolerance. These EEG, ECG and DT shows a significant decrement in mental stress and improvement in cognitive performance after SKY, indicating SKY as a good alternative of medication for stress management.