Abstract

Background: Researchers have studied the effect of yoga on psychological and physiological parameters. However, the insight into its impact on psychological status of postmenopausal women is not much studied.

Objective: This study is done to evaluate the impact of yoga in anxiety, stress, and depression of postmenopausal women.

Materials and Methods: To collect the data, depression anxiety stress scale-21 questionnaire was used for this study. Sixty postmenopausal women in the age group of 45–55 years were trained with yoga for a period of 12 weeks (6 times/week; 30–40 min) by a yoga trainer. The data were collected before and after yoga intervention.

Results: Mean anxiety score before yoga was 5.95. This decreased to 4.36 after yoga intervention. Mean stress score before yoga was 9.92 which decreased to 7.38 after yoga intervention. Mean depression score before yoga was 7.98 which decreased to 6.32 after yoga intervention. There is a significant decrease in level of anxiety, stress, and depression of postmenopausal women after the intervention of yoga where P < 0.001.

Conclusions: The results suggest significant differences among the scores of the factors for anxiety, stress, and depression level with yoga practice.

Key words: Yoga; Anxiety; Stress; Depression; Postmenopausal