Effects of Sudarshan Kriya on Stress Reduction in General Population

Abstract

BACKGROUND Stress, depression and anxiety have a yearly prevalence of 10 to 20% in the general population. All factors that cause one's conditions to diverge too far from the normal homeostasis lead to stress. Our attempts to restore the condition back to homeostasis also leads to stress. Stress affects quality of life by affecting the factors like level of unhappiness, focus, sleep disturbances, anger, frustration etc., because while responding to stress the sympathetic nervous system becomes active. Asthma, headache, IBS, anxiety and ulcers are the commonest presentations in stressful people. Various methods are studied in literature to relieve stress like exercise, walking, pranayam, meditation, gym, music and games. Sudarshan Kriya (SK) claims to have wide and varied effects on human body in different aspects. SK stimulates vagal response and counterbalances the effects of stress. MATERIALS AND METHODS This is a cohort study with group comparison of subjects regularly practicing SK for more than 6 months. Age matched controls used other Stress Releasing Measure (SRM) like walking, pranayam and gym with ethical standards. Data collection was done by close-ended questionnaire using Likert score for comparison of parameters. Statistical Analysis-The data were entered into the computer and analysed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 10.0 programs for Windows. Unpaired student's t-test, the mean and SD was calculated. The significant value was achieved at p < 0.05. RESULTS The selected population faced equal challenges in life. Stress created equal impact in the controls and study subjects. Although, the controls have shown a definite improvement in the quality of life after using stress releasing measures. But, the study shows that controls feel more stressed than SK doers (p was significant at 0.02). The regular SK doers are more focussed with a positive outlook. Categorically (Qualitatively), there was a significant shift towards Likert score of 5 in the SK doers (p= 0.002). SK doers significantly surpassed the control group by scoring highest on Likert scale in almost every parameter studied, e.g. levels of happiness, focus, sleep patterns, anger, frustration, outlook, habits of consuming alcohol, gutka, tobacco and even medical problems. Thus, life appears eased out in regular kriya doers. CONCLUSION SK relieves stress in general population in a very significant manner when compared with other stress releasing measures. SK has an extremely positive effect on physical and mental health of the general population. It can definitely be recommended as a highly beneficial, no risk, low cost option to take care of stress and its effects on the human body.

Impact of breathing and relaxation training (Sudarshan Kriya) on cases of alcohol dependence syndrome

“…For analyzing immediate impact, WHO-5 Well-Being Index was administered before and after the intervention which showed a significant improvement [ Table 5 ]. Studies analyzing the impact of SK on stress levels found that regular practice improved levels of well-being, happiness, focus, and reduced anger and frustration and concluded that the life appeared “eased out.”[ 9 23 ] Other studies have shown SK to have an antidepressant like affect and also reported stabilized cortisol levels and normalization of BDNF levels. [ 8 ] Another study[ 10 ] which evaluated an improvement of depressive symptoms in ADS patients found similar results, lowering of Cortisol and ACTH levels and improvement of depressive symptoms.…”