Effectiveness of Hatha Yoga on Stress and Anxiety among Adolescents at Selected Colleges, Salem

A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of Hatha Yoga on stress and anxiety among adolescents at selected colleges, Salem. The design adopted was True experimental pre test post test control group design. The settings of the study were Vinayaka Missions Kirupananda Variyar Engineering College, Salem and AVS Engineering College, Salem. 60 samples, (30 in experimental group and 30 in control group) were drawn through simple random sampling technique using lottery method. The level of stress and anxiety were assessed using Modified Perceived Stress Scale and Hamilton’s Anxiety Rating Scale respectively. The investigator demonstrated Hatha yoga and the samples practiced it for 30 minutes every day in the morning for 21 consecutive days. Post test was done on the 29th day of intervention. The data gathered was analyzed with the help of descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that in experimental group, the mean pre test level of stress decreased from 38.67 (SD=11.30) to 26.13 (SD=6.74) at post test with a mean difference of 12.54 whereas the mean pre test level of anxiety decreased from 17.43 (SD=7.20) to 11.17 (SD=4.20) at post test with a mean difference of 6.26. The paired ‘t’ value at p≤ 0.05 level for stress and anxiety were 8.06 and 7.24 respectively which is significantly higher than the table value 2.05. Hence H1 was retained. In experimental group, the mean post test level of stress was 26.13+6.74 and in control group, it was 36.37+11.01 with a mean difference of 10.24 whereas the mean post test level of anxiety was 11.17+ 4.20 and that for control group was 16.37 +7.50 with a mean difference of 5.20. There is significant difference between the scores of experimental and control group computed through independent ‘t’ test at p≤ 0.05 level (t=4.341 for stress and t=3.312 for anxiety). Hence H2 was retained. No significant association was found between level of stress and anxiety with their demographic variables in experimental group. However, there was a significant association between level of stress and the demographic variable family income in control group (χ2 =8.82 and table value = 7.82). Hence H3 was retained only for the above mentioned variable. This study concludes that Hatha Yoga is a cost effective, easy to practice non pharmacological method in reducing the level of stress and anxiety in adolescents