Managing Anxiety among Postmenopausal Women through Yoga

Anxiety is a state of mind which comes as a normal reaction to stress and is very common in postmenopausal women. The hormonal changes that occur during the menopause make them prone to psychological changes such as mood swings, anxiety, insomnia and other mental illnesses. The practice of asanas and pranayamas in combination with meditation appears to modulate stress response system of the body. This in turn decreases physiological arousal and thus reduces the level of anxiety on HAM-A rating scale. Objective: To study the role of yogic intervention on postmenopause induced anxiety among participants. Settings and Design: A purposive sample of 30 females of postmenopausal age between 45-55 years was selected and randomly divided into experimental and control group with each of 15 subjects. Research design selected for the present study is pre-test post-test control group design and the duration of the study is 15 days. Study group was asked to follow specific yoga intervention designed after compiling relevant scientific evidences. The intervention was practiced by the study group from 7A.M. to 7:45 A.M. daily for 15 days while the control group was not assigned any such treatment. All subjects were assessed using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) of Dr. M.Hamilton prior to commencement of the intervention and readministered the same test after completion of 15days training. Statistical Analysis Used: Paired sample t-test was used to compare the changes obtained by administering the test before and after the intervention with significance criterion on 0.01 level. Result: An analysis of result shows that the selected yogic intervention has proved its role to significantly reduce the level of anxiety among postmenopausal women.