Yoga can help prevent psychological problems in adolescents

The study attracted 50 high school students, who studied in the classes of physical culture with an emphasis in high school in Massachusetts. Two-thirds of students were sent to a class, which consisted of yoga exercises, such as breathing exercises, relaxation and meditation, while the remaining one-third of adolescents were regular classes physical education classes.

Before and after 10 weeks of treatment, all 50 students have passed the special psychosocial tests are intended to measure their mood, psychological stress and / or anxiety attacks.

The authors also assessed the development of students' self-regulatory skills, including their ability to quickly restore the physical and mental strength, control anger, and attentiveness, which is thought to prevent the development of mental health problems.

Tests have shown that students of yoga group showed better results in several of the psychological tests. The authors noted that children of normal group, more likely to have more problems with mood and anxiety attacks, compared to subjects in the group of yoga, the results of which have remained unchanged or improved.

The researchers also noted that the number of negative emotions in children has increased in the conventional group, but decreased the students who practice yoga. The positive emotions, yet There were no changes in any of the groups.

In addition, the authors noted that there were no important differences in the results of self-regulatory psychological test between groups. No matter which of the groups were students, almost three-quarters of the subjects evaluated yoga is quite high, saying that they would like to continue their studies in yoga classes.

Given that youth - an important period of development of mental health, child psychologists are advised to use a variety of approaches. One such approach - yoga. The exercises combine strength and flexibility, together with the methods of thought / mindfulness and relaxation. Studies have shown that yoga leads to significant improvements in mental and physical health problems, and there is a growing body of data that proves that yoga has a positive effect on children and adolescents.