More Evidence Supporting Yoga as an Effective Way to Combat Teen Anxiety and Mood Problems

In April 2012, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, the largest and most established yoga and holistic health retreat and education center in North America, reported their findings from a study they did on the psychological Benefits for High-School Students (Kripalu, 2012).   In the pilot study, conducted by researcher Jessica Noggle, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, fifty-one 11^th- and 12^th-grade students from a Massachusetts high school were randomly assigned to either yoga or regular PE classes for ten weeks.  All participants received psychosocial tests both before and after the yoga treatment. 

At the end of ten weeks, tests revealed that teenagers assigned to the yoga classes had more positive outcomes than students who were assigned to regular PE classes.  Yoga participants showed lowered scores for mood problems and anxiety while those in regular PE classes had overall increased scores.  Also, at the end of the ten-week session, nearly three-fourths of the participants said they wanted to continue taking yoga classes.  While the study was small, it does suggest positive psychological effects of yoga. Details of the study can be found in the April 2012 Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.

Reference

Kripalu.  (2012).  Press release: Yoga Shows Psychological benefits for high-school students.  Retrieved from http://kripalu.org/article/1331