EFFECT OF YOGIC PRACTICES ON STRESS AMONG MIDDLE AGED WORKING WOMEN

K. Kavitha, Part-time PhD Scholar in Yoga, Faculty of Yoga Sciences and Therapy, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, No.12, VembuliammanKoil Street, West K.K.Nagar, Chennai-78, Tamil Nadu, India. E- Mail ID: kavitha.kumaragru.0701@gmail.com

 

Abstract

The purpose of the random group experimental study was to find out the effect of Yogic Practices on Stress among Middle-aged Working Women professionals. For the study, Middle-aged working women between the age group of 35 to 45 years were selected randomly by random sampling design from an organisation in Chennai and they were divided into two groups of 15 subjects each. It was hypothesized that there would be significant difference among middle-aged working women on Stress than the control group. Preliminary test was conducted through the Stress Questionnaire constructed by Dr. Latha Satish (1997), for the two Groups (I, and II) on selected Psychological Variable before the start of the training program. Group I was given yogic practices which included Asana, Pranayama, Meditation and Yoga Nidra for six weeks (one hour every day for five days a week for six weeks) and the second group served as control group, was in active rest. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to find out the significant differences between the groups on the same selected dependent variable. The test of significance was fixed at 0.05 level of confidence. The results of the study on the selected Psychological variables i.e Stress showed that for the Group I there was a significant reduction than the control group. Hence, the hypothesis was accepted at 0.05 level of confidence. It is concluded that Yogic Practices are beneficial to reduce stress of Middle-aged Working women.

KEY WORDS: Stress, Yoga, Middle-age

 

INTRODUCTION

 In today’s modern world, working women face several challenges and obstacles in their day to day life due to high levels of Stress. The number of working women suffering from stress and stress-related illness is on the constant rise. At their middle-age (35-45 years) working women undergo tremendous anxiety, tension, fear resulting from their family and work-place related problems.So, their mind becomes trapped by desires, multiple worries and countless fears, causing their thoughts to spin in a whirl-wind of speculative possible stressful scenario.

While stress in women can also be caused by hormonal changes, during pregnancy and menopause, the major contribution to their stress is due to overburdening from the family and occupation front and lack of relaxation time.

Although being stressed for short periods of times can be good, long term stress can have negative consequences and lead to problem such as fatigue, anxiety, depression irritability, exhaustion, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart diseases and even cancer.

The need of the hour is to inquire deep into: the roots of stress, prevalent among working women and help them to acquire knowledge of ‘stress management’, to cope with stress in their day to day life so they understand the stressors, recognizing the symptoms holistically and turning it into a positive force using a variety of tools, information and techniques enabling the middle-aged working women to have a harmonious living at home and workplace.

The study was aimed to find out the effect of Yogic practices on selected risk factors among middle-aged working women professionals aged between 35-45 years. The subjects of the study were selected at random and divided into two homogeneous groups.  Among the two groups, the control group was not undergoing any activity. The experimental group was taught the selected yogic techniques practices which included Asana, Pranayama, Meditation and Yoga Nidra and was practicing only those techniques. It was concluded that the six weeks yogic practices significantly reduced the stress levels of the experimental group than the control group.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objective of the study was to find out whether there would be any significant difference on stress due to yogic practices among middle-aged working women professionals.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study was to find out the effect of Yogic practices on stress among middle-aged working women professionals.

HYPOTHESIS

It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences due to Yogic Practices on stress among middle-aged working women professionals than the control group.

REVIEWS ON RELATED LITERATURE

Chandra Mohan.A et.al.,(2013) conducted an empirical study on stress levels among software professionals in the city of Chennai, India. The study reveals that organizational role stress contributes high stress among IT professionals. In the present day gold collar employees are constantly best with problems of stress and strain in everyday life, because of high-pressure environment of working and living and they easily fall victims to disease and illness. This results in various health hazards like simple headache to severe heart problems.

Sahukar Madhura et.al.,(2014) conducted a research on “Job satisfaction, job stress and psychosomatic health problems in software professionals in India” (published online in the website of National Centre for Biotechnology Information), concludes that the psychosomatic disorders are well managed in yoga practicing software professionals. The yoga group had scored significantly lower in job stress and psychosomatic symptoms score compared with the nonyoga group. That implies yoga is a tool for software professionals to cope up with their stress and psychosomatic disorders.

METHODOLOGY

30 among middle-aged working women professionals between 35 and 45 years were randomly selected from an IT company in Chennai. They were assigned into two groups of which one group served as yogic practices group and the other as controlled group. The requirement of the experimental procedures, testing as well as training schedule were explained to them to avoid any ambiguity of the effort and time required on the part of the subjects prior to administration of study and got individual consent from each subject. Training was scheduled for 1 hour every day for 5 days in week and for 6 weeks at the IT company premises. Stress levels were assessed by the Stress Questionnaire constructed by Dr. Latha Satish (1997).

 

TRAINING SCHEDULE

Following Training schedule was followed for the Group 1 participants for 1 hour every day for 5 days in week and for 6 weeks duration :

• 1st week          Pavan Muktasan - 1 series of Asanas
• 2nd week         Surya Namaskar without breathing, Relaxation Asanas
• 3rd week         Surya Namaskar with breathing, Relaxation Asanas

NadhiShodhan Pranayama, Yogic Breathing and Yoga Nidra

• 4th– 6th weekSurya Namaskar with breathing, Relaxation Asaanas

Nadishodhan, and Brahmari,Pranayama, Yogic Breathing and Yoga Nidra

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

• The data pertaining to the variable collected from the two groups before and after the training period were statistically analyzed by using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to determine the significant difference and the hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of confidence.
• The obtained F - ratio value for the Stress levels were greater than the table value, indicating that there was a significant difference among the post test and adjusted post-test means of the Yogic Practice Group, than the Control Group on selected psychological variable. These are shown in the Table below.

                                                             

                                                            Table    I

ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF THE MEANS OF TWO EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS AND THE CONTROL GROUP ON STRESS( scores in marks)

Test	Experimental group A	ControlGroup B	Source of Variation	Degrees of Freedom	Sum of Squares	Mean Sum of Squares	F-Ratio
Pre	44.13	42.67	Between	1	16.13	16.13	1.06
			Within	28	425.07	15.18
Post	32.00	43.20	Between	1	940.80	940.80	64.82*
			Within	28	406.40	14.51
Adjusted Post	31.46	43.74	Between	1	1089.02	1089.02	165.75*
			Within	27	177.39	6.57

 * Significant at 0.05 level of confidence.(Table F ratio for df1  and 28= 4.2, 1  and    27= 4.21)

The obtained F - ratio value for the Stress was greater than the table value. This indicates that there was a significant difference among the post-test and adjusted post-test means of the Experimental Group than the Control group on Stress. The above findings can also be substantiated by the observations of experts, Chandra Mohan.A et.al, and Sahukar Madhura et.al., (2014)

The pre-test, post-test and the adjusted post-test mean values of Experimental group and Control group on Stress are graphically presented in the following table.

 

Figure – 1

BAR DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MEAN DIFFERENCES AMONG THE GROUPS ON STRESS(scores in marks)

              * Significant at 0.05 level of confidence

 

• The results of the study on the selected psychological variable showed that Group I had significant differences on Stress levels due to the effect of Yogic Practices which included Asana, Pranayama, Meditation and Yoga Nidra. Hence, the hypothesis was accepted at 0.05 level of confidence. The above findings were substantiated by the observations made by experts such as Chandra Mohan.A et.al., and Sahukar Madhura et.al., (2014).

 

CONCLUSION 

It was concluded that the six weeks of yogic practices which included Asana, Pranayama, Meditation and Yoga Nidra significantly reduced the Stress levels of the middle aged working women.

 

REFERENCES

1. Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha (1993) by Swami SatyanandaSaraswati. Yoga Publication Trust, Munger, Bihar
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8. Chandra Mohan.A et.al (2013),“An Empirical Study on Stress Levels among Software Professionals in the City of Chennai ,India, Abhinav Journal, Volume No.2,Issue No.5, pp 33- 40
9. Sahukar Madhura et.al., (2014), “Job satisfaction, Job stress and Psychosomatic health problems in software professionals in India, Indian J Occup Environ Med. 2014 Sep-Dec; 18(3): 153–1

JOURNALS

1. Yoga Magazine(Sep-1991) – Stress and Modern Man
2. Yoga Magazine (May-1998) – Yoga and Management of Stress
3. Yoga Magazine (Sep-1991)– Coping with Stress
4. Yoga Magazine (Sep-1991) – We have to live with stress
5. Yoga Magazine (Sep-1991)– Stress-related diseases and Yoga
6. Yoga Magazine (Nov-1993) –Dealing with stress
7. Yoga Magazine (Nov-1991) – Turning body and mind 

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