Effect of Pranayama on cognition and other higher mental functions

Abstract

Introduction: Yoga and pranayama are the ancient Indian life style practices which has no limits for age or gender. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of pranayama on cognition. Materials and methods: This is a pre-post study which includes 100 healthy medical students of 18-25 years age group with equal male to female ratio. They practised daily pranayama (anulom vilom) for 10 minutes; two hours post lunch for 12 weeks in clinical laboratory, department of physiology, Prathima institute of medical sciences. Their cognitive function is assessed by trail making test and mini mental state examination at the beginning and at the end of 12 weeks period in which they regularly practised pranayama, and the results were compared. Results: There is no significant gender difference in the results obtained. After 12 weeks regular practise of pranayama, there is a significant reduction in the time taken for trail making test (P<0.001) and also significant improvement in the scores of mini mental state examination (P<0.001). Conclusion: This study shows that, there is a significant improvement of cognition with regular daily practise of pranayama.

Keywords

• pranayama
• reguklar practice
• mental state