Impact of nadishuddhi pranayam on perceived stress and vasomotor tone among young women - relevance to phase of menstrual cycle

Background: Yoga produces consistent physiological changes and have sound scientific basis.Practice of Pranayam has been known to modulate cardiac autonomic status during follicular and late luteal phases of menstrual cycle due to fluctuations of serum estrogen and progesterone levels. Aims and Objectives: To study the impact of Nadishuddhi pranayama on perceived stress and vasomotor tone in the different of Phase menstrual cycle before and at the end of study period among young adult females. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out in 66medical students aged between 17–25 years. They were selected by using simple random sampling and informed consent was obtained. A pretested questionnaire perceived stress scale was used to gather the research information. In control group, there was no significant difference in the BMI, WHR, HR, SBP and DBP of both phases of menstrual cycle at the beginning and end of the study period. Results: In yoga group, there was significant difference (p≤0.05) in the BMI, WHR, HR, SBP and DBP of both phases of menstrual cycle at the beginning and end of the study period compare with control group. After yoga, there was significant decreased stress in both phase of study group as compared to control group. Conclusion: However, slow type of pranayama increased parasympathetic activity during follicular phase and decreased sympathetic activity in secretory phase. As a result, decreased stress level of the individual.