Cavallera Guido Maria, Gatto Massimo, Boari Giuseppe
Department of Medicine and Aging, University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.
, Yoga High School of Specialization "Yoga e Oltre", Milano, Italy.
Med Sci Monit. 2014 Feb 13;20:238-46. doi: 10.12659/MSM.889030.
Yoga is a psychophysical, spiritual science of holistic living, aiming towards body and mind development; it can influence well-being, cognitive processes, personality (Gunas), psychophysiological parameters, and human health. Since it has been observed that Morningness-Eveningness disposition is associated with personality, and that personality can characterize people practicing Yoga, in this exploratory study we posited that Morningness-Eveningness might be associated with personality in Yoga trainees. Since Yoga can have influences over cognitive perspectives, and since it has been observed that Morningness-Eveningness disposition can associate with cognitive processes, we investigated a sample of Yoga trainees with reference to relationship with styles of learning and thinking (relevant aspects of cognitive functioning) and also with Morningness-Eveningness disposition.
We tested 184 Yoga trainees using the following questionnaires: Styles of Learning and Thinking (Torrance), Big Five Questionnaire (Caprara, Barbaranelli, Borgogni), and reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (Natale).
We found that Morning types score significantly higher than Evening types on Conscientiousness, Friendliness, Scrupulousness, Openness to Culture, emotional Stability, emotion Control, they score higher than intermediate types on Conscientiousness, Friendliness, Scrupulousness. Moreover, data showed that the high majority of subjects, also with reference to Morningness-Eveningness disposition, have right-sided styles of learning and thinking, pointing out a tendency towards right-sided cognitive precessing in the whole sample. Personality traits of the Yoga trainees were also investigated.
Data are discussed with reference to existing literature, psychological and neuroscientific perspectives are suggested, previous studies about Yoga published on Medical Science Monitor are also considered.
瑜伽是一门关乎身心健康、精神层面的整体生活科学，旨在促进身心发展；它能影响幸福感、认知过程、性格（三德）、心理生理参数及人类健康。鉴于已观察到晨型 - 夜型倾向与性格相关，且性格可作为练习瑜伽者的特征，在本探索性研究中，我们假定晨型 - 夜型倾向可能与瑜伽学员的性格有关。由于瑜伽会对认知视角产生影响，且已观察到晨型 - 夜型倾向与认知过程相关，我们针对一组瑜伽学员，研究了其与学习和思维方式（认知功能的相关方面）以及晨型 - 夜型倾向之间的关系。
我们使用以下问卷对184名瑜伽学员进行了测试：学习和思维方式问卷（托兰斯）、大五问卷（卡普拉拉、巴巴拉内利、博尔戈尼）以及简化版晨型 - 夜型问卷（纳塔莱）。
我们发现，晨型的人在尽责性、友善性、严谨性、文化开放性、情绪稳定性、情绪控制方面的得分显著高于夜型的人；在尽责性、友善性、严谨性方面，他们的得分高于中间型的人。此外，数据表明，绝大多数受试者，无论其晨型 - 夜型倾向如何，都具有右侧的学习和思维方式，这表明整个样本存在右侧认知加工的倾向。我们还对瑜伽学员的人格特质进行了研究。
结合现有文献对数据进行了讨论，提出了心理学和神经科学视角，同时也考虑了先前发表在《医学科学监测》上的关于瑜伽的研究。
