EFFECT OF DIFFERENT PRANAYAMA PRACTICES ON FORCED VITAL CAPACITY AMONG COLLEGE MEN STUDENTS - A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Dr. V. Duraisami, Dr. R. Ramanan* and Dr. S. Parthasarathy

ABSTRACT

Yoga is a traditional Indian method of exercise, which is practiced over thousands of years for keeping the human body physical and mentally fit. Pranayama is one of ancient practice of controlled breathing exercise supposed to better respiratory function in human beings. The purpose of the study was to find out the effect of different pranayama practices on respiratory parameters. To achieve this purpose of the study, thirty various college men students from Chennai were selected as subjects at random. The age of the subjects were ranged from 18 to 21 years. The selected subjects were divided into two equal groups of fifteen subjects each, such as different pranayama practices group and control group. The (Group I) underwent different pranayama practices programme for five days per week for six weeks. Group II acted as control in which they did not undergo any special practice programme. All the subjects of two groups were tested on respiratory parameters at prior to and immediately after the practice programme. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analysis the significant difference, if any in between the groups. The level of significant to test the „F‟ ratio obtained by the analyses of covariance was tested at 0.05 level of confidence, which was considered as an appropriate. The results of the study revealed that there was a significant difference between different pranayama practices group and control group on respiratory parameters among college students. A multicentric study with a larger sample may be needed to validate the findings.

Keywords: Pranayama, Respiratory parameters, Yoga.