Yoga improves quality of sleep, says NIMHANS study.

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increase in high amplitude wave in sleep of people who practice yoga and

sudarshan kriya. The natural sleep pattern of middle-aged person actually

reverses age-related sleep degradation," said Dr TR Raju, head of

neurophysiology at Bangalore-based National Institute of Mental Health and

Neurosciences (NIMHANS). The yet-to-be published study found that EEG of

yoga practitioners not only reverses age-related degeneration of sleep but

display a sleep pattern seen in younger people. This is first scientific

evidence on the effect of yoga and pranayam on the physiology of the brain.

"The EEG activity in the higher frequency range like beta or gamma wave is

associated with behavioural conditions when animal is alert and focusing its

attention on a

target. In sleep architecture, they have demonstrated enhanced quality of sleep,

enhanced slow wave sleep (referred to as S3 and S4) and enhanced Rapid Eye

Movement sleep (called REM)," the study showed. Better sleep is associated with

memory consolidation and enhanced neuronal circuits which are usually dormant

when one is awake. Yoga is also coming to the rescue of severe cases of

epilepsy, where even drugs are proving to be less useful. "About 15 per cent of

epileptic patients are unmanageable by any methods of treatment. To this group,

yoga has been found to be very effectve," Dr TN Sathyaprabha at the department

of Neurophysiology, NIMHANS, said. The team studied cardiovascular autonomic

functions in epileptic patients who underwent eight

weeks yoga therapy. The results were very encouraging: 68 per cent patients had

significant improvement of their autonomic functions (including heart rate and

blood pressure) compared with pre-yoga stage. "Their quality of life was also

significantly better. Many of them said they were now less nervous to go out of

their homes and were able to socialise without the lurking fear of seizures," Dr

Satyaprabha said. Stress is one of the important precipitating factor

causing autonomic dysfunction and influence increased frequency in seizures.

Hence, stress management may be an important factor in reducing seizure

frequency and management of chronic epilepsy. A lot is yet to be

understood about the role of traditional practices like yoga and

pranayam play in stress relief, improving memory and better physiology, but the

study re-affirms the science behind these ancian Indian wisdom.

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"Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the

conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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