Key result
Yoga reduces perceived stress ~18% more than aerobic exercise in school students.
Why the study?
The comparative effects of yoga and aerobic exercises on mental, physiological, and physical health in school children were not well established.
Does yoga compared to aerobic exercise improve psychological, physical, and physiological health in school students?
RCT (n=120)
Randomly grouped
Does yoga compared to aerobic exercise improve psychological, physical, and physiological health in school students?
Both yoga and aerobic exercise significantly improve psychological, physical, and physiological health in adolescents, with yoga offering superior benefits for stress, anxiety, and flexibility, while aerobic exercise provides slightly better cardiovascular improvements.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support yoga or aerobic programs in schools for adolescent well-being; extends sparse RCT data on differential benefits.
The study examined the comparative effects of yoga and aerobic exercises on the mental, physiological, and physical health of school going children. A total of one hundred and twenty participants were selected randomly in either one of the groups namely: yoga (n = 60) and aerobic exercise (n = 60). Psychological health was evaluated with the help of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), physical health with the help of Body Mass Index (BMI) and Sit-and-Reach test of flexibility, and physiological with the help of Heart Rate (HR) and systolic blood pressure (BP). The results indicated that both interventions had significant improvement in all parameters (p < 0.05). Yoga had more stress and anxiety reductions and larger flexibility improvements, but aerobic exercise a little better in the HR and BP cardiovascular results. These findings suggest that yoga and aerobic exercise have a positive effect on the health of students in schools, and a combination of the two practices can have a multidimensional impact on psychological well-being, physical fitness, and cardiovascular health.
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Rohtash et al. (2025) conducted an RCT in Healthy school students (n=120). Yoga vs. Aerobic exercise was evaluated on Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) score (p=<0.05). An 8-week yoga intervention significantly reduced stress and anxiety and improved flexibility more than aerobic exercise, while aerobic exercise provided slightly better improvements in heart rate and blood pressure among school students.
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