Gopal Aravind, Mondal Sunita, Gandhi Asha, Arora Sarika, Bhattacharjee Jayashree
Department of Physiology, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India.
Int J Yoga. 2011 Jan;4(1):26-32. doi: 10.4103/0973-6131.78178.
Stress is often associated with an increased occurrence of autonomic, cardiovascular, and immune system pathology. This study was done to evaluate the impact of stress on psychological, physiological parameters, and immune system during medical term -academic examination and the effect of yoga practices on the same.
The study was carried out on sixty first-year MBBS students randomly assigned to yoga group and control group (30 each). The yoga group underwent integrated yoga practices for 35 minutes daily in the presence of trained yoga teacher for 12 weeks. Control group did not undergo any kind of yoga practice or stress management. Physiological parameters like heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure were measured. Global Assessment of Recent Stress Scale and Spielbergers State Anxiety score were assessed at baseline and during the examination. Serum cortisol levels, IL-4, and IFN-γ levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique.
In the yoga group, no significant difference was observed in physiological parameters during the examination stress, whereas in the control group, a significant increase was observed. Likewise, the indicators of psychological stress showed highly significant difference in control group compared with significant difference in yoga group. During the examination, the increase in serum cortical and decrease in serum IFN-γ in yoga group was less significant (P<0.01) than in the control group (P<0.001). Both the groups demonstrated an increase in serum IL-4 levels, the changes being insignificant for the duration of the study.
Yoga resists the autonomic changes and impairment of cellular immunity seen in examination stress.
压力常与自主神经系统、心血管系统及免疫系统疾病发生率增加相关。本研究旨在评估医学学期学术考试期间压力对心理、生理参数及免疫系统的影响，以及瑜伽练习对此的作用。
该研究针对60名一年级医学学士学生展开，随机分为瑜伽组和对照组（每组30人）。瑜伽组在受过训练的瑜伽老师指导下，每天进行35分钟的综合瑜伽练习，持续12周。对照组未进行任何瑜伽练习或压力管理。测量心率、呼吸频率和血压等生理参数。在基线和考试期间评估近期压力综合评估量表及斯皮尔伯格状态焦虑评分。采用酶联免疫吸附测定技术测定血清皮质醇水平、白细胞介素-4（IL-4）和干扰素-γ（IFN-γ）水平。
在瑜伽组中，考试压力期间生理参数未观察到显著差异，而在对照组中则观察到显著增加。同样，心理压力指标在对照组中显示出高度显著差异，而在瑜伽组中差异显著。考试期间，瑜伽组血清皮质醇升高及血清IFN-γ降低的幅度（P<0.01）小于对照组（P<0.001）。两组血清IL-4水平均升高，在研究期间变化不显著。
瑜伽可抵抗考试压力中出现的自主神经变化及细胞免疫损伤。
