Study Title: The effect of yoga in stress reduction for dental students performing their first periodontal surgery: A randomized controlled study
By: Rajesh Shankarapillai, Manju Anathakrishnan Nair, and Roy George
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Copyright : © International Journal of Yoga
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The following is a brief overview of the study and its results (not written by the authors of the study), but links back to the complete details and full contents of the original study.
Study Overview
The use of yoga practices to reduce stress and anxiety has been used for centuries in India and more recently in the Western World. The authors of this study wanted to assess its effectiveness for dental students who had to perform their first periodontal surgery.
100 clinical dental students from the Pacific Dental College and Hospital, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India who were ready to perform their first periodontal surgeries took part in this controlled study to assess the effectiveness of Yoga in reducing stress and anxiety before and during surgical procedures.
Group A – 50 students were given 60 minutes yoga training, including asanas, regulated breathing, joint exercises and guided relaxation to help manage stress and anxiety. Each student was also given a tape with step by step instructions for deep breathing and all were asked to listen and practice daily & employ the suggested strategies before their first surgical experience.
Group B – 50 students were given a lecture on the effects of stress, anxiety and health. This group was also given a tape which contained ocean wave sounds but no instructions on how or why to use it.
Several previous studies of stress/anxiety levels of medical and dental students have shown high levels and many medical schools now offer stress management programs for students. The results from this study conclude that Group A showed a significant reduction in stress and anxiety levels compared to Group B, indicating that the inclusion of yoga as a stress reducing tool could enhance and benefit medical and dental students.