Effect of four weeks of integrated yoga intervention on perceived stress and sleep quality among female nursing professionals working at a tertiary care hospital: A pilot study

Background: Studies have reported that significant nursing professionals experience tremendous stress which often affects their sleep quality leading to poor well-being. Yoga being a mind body intervention reported to improve sleep quality and reduce stress. Aim: The present pilot study was designed to assess the effect of yoga on perceived stress and sleep quality of the female nursing professionals working at tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: Thirty-three apparently healthy nursing staffs in the age range of 30–60 years (mean age 40.60 ± 10.26) were recruited as participants of the study, from a tertiary care hospital in Delhi. Participants were administered perceived stress scale (PSS) and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) before and after the yoga intervention. Participants received 4 week of yoga intervention for 45 min/day for 5 days a week. Results: There was a significant reduction on the postscores of PSS (t = 5.86, P < 0.0001, paired t-test) and PSQI (z = −4.38, P < 0.0001, Wilcoxon signed-ranks test) in comparison to prescores. After the yoga intervention, perceived stress reduced by 27.01% and the sleep quality improved by 38.68%. Conclusion: The finding of the study suggests effectiveness of yoga in reduction of the perceived stress and improvement of the quality of sleep of the nursing professional. However, the present findings need to be confirmed with further studies with larger sample size and robust research design