Nostril Dominance and Anxiety State in Normal Volunteers Before and After Integrated Yoga Practices

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the
Master's Degree in Yogic Sciences (M. Sc) by Ramachandra Dey
Guides Dr. Nagarathna, Dr. H R Nagendra
To
VYOMA
(Vivekananda Yoga Mahavidya Pitha)
Of
Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana
(A deemed University, Recognized by UGC, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India)
19, Eknath Bhavan , Gavipuram Circle , K. G. Nagar,
Bangalore - 560019, India 
 

Abstract ::This study was conducted to assess pattern of nostril dominance and Anxiety State before and after the practice of Integrated Approach of Yoga (IAY) in 68 normal healthy volunteers. Both men and women age between 16 to 56 years. ( age mean & Standard deviation 27.13 ± 8.41). The entire subjects had undergone same daily routine from morning 5 am to 9.30 pm. Nasal Dominance was assessed by using the slide test and Anxiety test was assessed through three questionnaire, STAI - X-1, STAI - X-2, They were administered on first and 10th day of the study and they show the significant reduction of anxiety state (p<0.00) and STAI - A - STATE was given every day before and after Asana session at 5 am and 7.10 am (p<0.04).

The assessments were done for 10 days. For Anxiety State used Paired 't' test, Wilcox on signed ranks test & spearman's test and nasal dominance Chi-square test. During the course of yoga practice, nostril dominance showed a gradual shift from right to left nostril in the pre yoga condition (p<0.05).Although both nostrils showed a increase in contrast to right nostril, the change was insignificant. In post yoga condition , right nostril showed a gradual and significant increase over 10 days of yoga practice, whereas both nostrils significantly decreased (p<0.05), however ,the difference between changes in right nostril and left nostril was not significant. Although the correlation was insignificant, left nostril showed a strong trend of increase over 10 days, while both nostrils decreased. There was a significant positive correlation between after left nostril dominance and anxiety state (p<0.05). As right nostril dominance increased after asana over 10 days the anxiety state reduced which was not significant.

Summary & Conclusion :Table-1 shows demographic data (Appendix-1), there were 68 subjects (34 males) in age range 16-56years, in the study.
Table-1a shows normality data with and without transformation for the skewed variables. It shows that nostril dominance and state & trait anxiety scores were not normally distributed even after log transformation.
Table-1b shows the descriptive data with Skeweness and kurtosis. As the value for nostril dominance was skewed and was nominal data non parametric chi-square test was used. For state (short) anxiety score which was not normally distributed Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used. For scores on State and Trait Anxiety which were normally distributed Student's paired't' test was used.

5.1- BASE LINE NOSTRIL DOMINANCE
Table-2 shows base line differences in nostril dominance. On day one 50% of subjects had right nostril dominance, 35% had left nostril dominance, and 15% had equal nostril flow. In before asana condition on day one the difference between right and both nostril flow was significant at p<0.01 (chi-square test, table-2a), And between right nostril flow and both was also significant at p<0.02 (Table-2b) whereas the difference between right and left nostril dominances was non significant (Table-2c). Table 2d, 2e & 2f show the difference in nostril dominances after yoga condition on first day.

5.2-CHANGES IN NOSTRIL DOMINANCE AFTER 10 DAYS OF IAYT
Table-3a and 3b shows the changes in nostril dominance after 10 days of IAYT in all subjects.The left nostril dominance gradually increased with significance at p <0.01 by 7th day (graph 1&2, appendix 3) which continued on 10th day too. In after asana condition (table 3b) a similar trend of increase in number of subjects with right nostril dominance was observed which reached significant levels (p<0.01) by 7th day. There was no significant change in number of subjects with equal nostril patency.

5.3- DAILY CHANGES IN NOSTRIL DOMINANCE IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOGASANA SESSION
Table 4 shows the changes in nostril dominance immediately after practice of yogasana session between 5am to 7am .The difference between left ,right and both (graph 3,4 and 5)which was significant in the initial days(1&2) became non significant as the yoga practices continued, showing that both before and after values moved in the same direction with lesser degree of differences (p>0.01) through the 10 days.

5.4 -ANXIETY (STATE & TRAIT) SCORES AFTER 10 DAYS OF IAYT
Table- 5 shows the changes in state and trait anxiety after 10 days of IAYT. There was significant reduction in both scores p<0.00 (Student's 't' test paired two tailed)

5.5- STATE ANXIETY (SHORT) IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOGA SESSION
Table 6 shows the mean scores on state anxiety for all 10 days just before (5am) and just after the yogasana session at (7am). There was significant decrease in mean anxiety scores immediately after yoga session (Wilcoxon signed rank test as baseline was not normally distributed)
5.6- Gender analysis for nostril dominance and anxiety scores showed no significant difference between males and females.