Analyzing the impact of nadi shodhan pranayama (alternate nostril breathing) on health and stress management among generation Z

• Published in: AIP conference proceedings Vol. 2782; no. 1
• Main Authors: Mathur, Sanjeev Kumar, Awasthi, Brijesh, Gupta, Sunil Kumar
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Melville American Institute of Physics 15.06.2023
• Subjects: 21st century; Emotions; Generation Z; Impact analysis; Lifestyles; Mental disorders; Psychological stress; Stress; Yoga; India
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0154420

India has been known for practicing Yoga which is embedded into its culture and heritage since times immemorial as a gateway to good health and wellness. It is India that has given to the world Yoga and Ayurveda – the two prominent therapies. The sedentary life style that was deemed to be a threat to the healthy life-style at the fag end of 20th century has emerged as a monster in the 21st century with a host of life style diseases in the form of a number of health disorders like cardiac ailments, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, carcinoma, and mental disorders etc that the world suffers from. The 21st century life style is full of stress and strain to the nearly 8 billion habitants of this planet. It is this stress which originates from a response to any stimuli which causes an alteration in the way body functions. The bodily changes involve both physical as well as psychological changes. Whenever there is an alteration in the way normal body functioning happens, a series of detrimental effects emerge in the human body and it not merely at physical level. Such changes happen at mental level too. Through this paper, an attempt is being made to introduce the concept of pranayama (a form of yoga which comprises deep rhythmic breathing in controlled manner). The basic tenet in pranayama is two way relationship between emotion and breathing. That means, it is not only emotions which impact our breathing, but by way of controlling rhythmic breathing through yoga, we can positively alter emotions too. The study involved human subjects who willingly agreed to be a part of particular experimentation involving practice of nadi shodhan pranayama (alternate nostril breathing) for 18 weeks. The outcome: there was a significant improvement by 22% in the health, a substantial gain in memory power by 19.15%, a reduction in the mental stress levels by 21.23% and 24.86 were relieved of their physical discomforts belonging to Generation Z in the pre- and post-nadi shodhan pranayama practice.