Effects of Yoga on Cognitive Functions Among Adolescents

Yoga is beneficial in enhancing mental health and consequently cognitive growth. Some studies have show that yoga practice can improve cognitive functioning in children.

The study intended to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based yoga intervention on the cognitive abilities-attention and memory-of adolescents.

The research team conducted a one-group, pretest-posttest study.

The study occurred at a rural residential school in Udupi, Karnataka, and South India.

Participants were a convenience sample of 36 adolescents, with a mean age of 12.19 ± 0.4 years, in the seventh grade at the school.

A senior yoga expert prepared a structured, yoga-intervention module, which was implemented, with each session lasting one hour and occurring five days a week for 12 weeks.

The Digit Span Forward (DSF) and Digit Span Backward (DSB) tests and Letter-Number Sequencing (LNS) test were used by a trained research examiner to evaluate cognition.

Comparing the mean DSB, total digit span score, and LNS at baseline and postintervention showed significantly higher posttest scores than pretest ones, with P = .005, P = .005, and P = .001, respectively.

Yoga training improves cognitive functions and is a simple, low-cost, and effective adjuvant modality.