Abstract

Background: Yoga is looked upon as a very good exercise for a healthy life and has a profound impact on the respiratory functions of an individual.

Aim and Objectives: Our study was directed to assess some respiratory functions in healthy volunteers aged 20–65 years before and after 10 weeks Yoga practice and to assess the outcomes between young-middle aged and older aged individuals.

Materials and Methods: The present comparative study was conducted on 40 subjects who came willingly as participants for the project with written and informed consent. It was a prospective study on healthy participants from both gender of age between 20 and 65 years and the study groups were divided into two based on age, Group-I (20–49 years, young-middle aged) and Group-II (50–65 years, older aged). Some pulmonary function tests were measured and the mean values were matched within and between the groups before and after yoga practice.

Results: Our study found significantly higher values of forced vital capacity (FVC) in Group-I in contrast to Group-II before yoga practice. We also found a significant increase in FVC and peak expiratory flow rate in Group-I as well as Group-II after 10 weeks yoga practice with an almost similar improvement in both the groups.

Conclusion: From our present study, we come to the conclusion that yoga practice can be recommended to produce maximum improvement in the respiratory functions of healthy individuals and consequently to prevent respiratory ailments in the future.

Key words: Yoga; Pulmonary Function Tests; Forced Vital Capacity; Peak Expiratory Flow Rate