Isha Upa Yoga, an online tool, can support college students' mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
- Online Yoga classes are effective in improving mental health and overall well-being of the individual
- Isha Upa Yoga lowers anxiety and depression and is helpful for managing short-term stress
- People of different social, cultural and employment backgrounds can benefit equally from online Yoga classes
Online Yoga Programs
Rutgers-led research studies reveal a pair of popular online programs significantly reduced anxiety, depression, and stress in hundreds of study participants while increasing their overall well-being and improving their mood. “Yoga’s benefits are well-documented, but we wanted to see how these online programs stack up,” said lead author Tracy Chang, an Associate Professor at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations. “What we found is very encouraging. Most participants reported improvements in their mental health in as little as two weeks.”A study published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being measured the effectiveness of online Upa Yoga.
The research focused on two specific Upa practices:
- Yoga Namaskar (standing poses, squatting postures, kneeling forward bends, and arm movements to strengthen the muscles of the hands, legs, and back) and
- Nadi Shuddhi (a seated practice that involves alternate nostril breathing and awareness of breath).
“We used a crossover design and split the students into two groups,” Chang said. “Half the students got started on the yoga right away. The other half, our control group, did not. The yoga group reported improvements during the first four weeks, while the control group saw no change until they started doing yoga in the fifth week.”
Are Online Yoga Programs Effective?
Across the full 12-week study, students reported a significant, sustained reduction in stress and a cumulative increase in well-being compared to their baseline. The students also reported lower depression and improved mood, though these effects took longer to appear.Another study, published in the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine, evaluated an emerging mind-body behavioral medicine intervention called Inner Engineering Online. The program focuses on self-inquiry, Upa Yoga, and guided meditations.
The researchers also measured work-related outcomes in 263 of the participants. On average, they reported a 15% increase in the feeling that their work is meaningful, a 13% increase in work engagement (vigor, dedication, absorption), and a 5% increase in psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope, resilience).
“We analyzed demographic data and found no evidence that the positive effects varied by gender, race, age, education, employment position, or country,” Chang said. “People of different social, cultural, and employment backgrounds benefitted equally.”
However, participants showed no significant improvement in work-related optimism.
A Harvard-led study, co-authored by Chang and published by Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, found that Inner Engineering Online significantly reduced stress for participants who were diligent about doing the program routinely.
The researchers recruited 71 employees of an IT firm to complete the four-week program. Only those who spent at least three days a week on the activities, for at least two of the four weeks, saw a therapeutic benefit compared to the control group.
Source-Eurekalert