Summary of ANOVA on the academic performance gain scores of three subjects combined in relation to stress and yoga intervention
Source of variance df SS MSS F-ratio
Yoga “A“ 1 7669.77 7669.77 23.39**
Stress “B” 1 1802.3 1802.3 5.50*
Interaction 1 575.68 575.68 1.75
Within 296 97702.53 330.07 -
Total 107750.28 -
*Significant at the 0.05 level of confidence;
**Significant at the 0.01 level of confidence
Yoga is a mind-body practice that combines physical poses, controlled breathing, and meditation and/or relaxation. Yoga can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, lower your heart rate and control your breathing. Yoga allows access to an inner strength that allows you to face the sometimes-overwhelming fears, frustrations, and everyday challenges of life. A few Yoga poses daily can help regulate breathing patterns and relax the body by gently releasing tension from the large muscle groups, perfusing the body and brain with fresh blood, oxygen, and other nutrients, and increasing feelings of well-being. Full body exercises like mountain pose, upward facing dog, or sun salutations are particularly helpful because they encourage you to breathe deeply and rhythmically. Many exercises can be adapted so you can do them even in a chair, maybe while taking a small break from studying. Learning to concentrate simply on the sound of your own breath as you inhale and exhale smoothly will help you switch your attention from feelings of anxiety to feelings of awareness to your body, and the breaths rhythm. Practitioners of yoga tend to be more calm in stressful situations, and are shown to have more confidence and overall happiness in life. As little as 10 minutes of yoga can increase confidence in one's abilities, further increasing school grades.
This article gives me a lot to think about in my own life as we all know I am a very anxious person when it comes to school. If yoga can really help to lower a person stress level than that would lower a person’s (me) anxiety level as well. Relaxation does help to center oneself but I never thought about yoga as an actual way to reduce said anxiety. Before most tests I try to deep breath and bring myself back to reality and out of an almost panic stricken state. Maybe tomorrow morning I will wake up and do some yoga to relax and ease my nerves and at the same time get the blood and oxygen flowing to my brain and hopefully maintain a state of well-being. With only 2 weeks left after tomorrow I need all the confidence I can get to succeed with my goals and if yoga will help, I will try it!
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