The study, published in the journal Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (2004, vol 29, no 4), examined the effect of yoga practice on individuals with chronic insomnia.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, taught 20 study participants yoga breathing, meditation and mantra (sacred sound recitation) in one training session. The participants practiced the yoga treatment before bedtime on their own and with brief in-person and telephone follow-ups, for 8 weeks. The participants maintained a sleep-wake diary for 2 weeks prior to treatment and for 8 weeks during the treatment period. The participants' sleep efficiency, total sleep time, total wake time, sleep onset latency, wake time after sleep onset, number of awakenings, and sleep quality measures were assessed from their sleep-wake diary entries.
Researchers found that the participants had significantly improved sleep efficiency, total sleep time, total wake time, sleep onset latency, and wake time after sleep onset at the end of treatment, as compared with before the treatment.
"Yoga addresses the root of insomnia, which is usually linked to higher stress-hormone levels," says Sat Bir Khalsa, the study author.
Posted by Kristopher Foster on June 30, 2006 01:45 PM
