Stress, Physiological, Stress, Psychological, Yoga
Conditions
Keywords
Yoga, Stress, Stress management, Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to investigate if yoga can be an effective stress management technique for health care personnel.
Detailed description
Stress, both job related and personal, is an increasing problem in the health care sector. Yoga is said to have a good stress-reducing effect. The participants will provide blood, urine, and saliva samples. They will take part in two different stress tests. They will also fill in various qualitative questionnaires, including the Swedish questionnaire on health related quality of life (SWEDQUAL), Antonovsky's sense of coherence scale (KASAM), and the Job stress survey (JSS), both before the study starts and after 3 months of participation.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALYoga as stress management
Yoga specially designed to reduce stress is practiced for approximately 30 minutes at least three times a week for three months, once in a group session led by a trained yoga instructor and twice or more at home. The yoga techniques used are physical postures or movements, meditation and breathing exercises. Every time they do the techniques, participants fill in a form detailing how they feel before and after and providing information on the experience of doing the exercises.
OTHERRest without using any relaxation technique
The participants rest at home at least 30 minutes, at least three times a week for three months and without using any relaxation technique
Sponsors
Ekhaga Foundation Stockholm Sweden
Region Stockholm
Karolinska Institutet
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* BMI 18-30 * healthy * work in the health care sector
Exclusion criteria
* medication, including contraceptives and all medications or topical skin preparations with cortisone in any form (exception: hormone replacement therapy for hypothyroidism were included if their hormone levels were within the normal range)
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Reduced cortisol secretion | Three months |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Reduced stress measured by qualitative questionnaires (SWEQUAL, JSS, KASAM) | Three months |
Countries
Sweden
Outcome results
None listed