EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF YOGIC PRACTICES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING IN COLLEGE STUDENTS: A SMARTPHONE USE PERSPECTIVE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/2522-1795.2025.19.4.10Keywords:
Yogic practices, sleep quality, memory agility, smartphoneAbstract
Introduction. Well-being refers to an individual’s assessment of the quality of their life, which includes their overall happiness and various factors that reflect their overall state of well-being. Yogic practices include a collection of asanas, pranayama, meditation, mantras and relaxation techniques that aim to promote harmony and health to an individual's mental, physical, and emotional aspects.Purpose. The objective of the study was exploring the effects of yogic practices on psychological well-being such as sleep quality and memory ability among college students frequently engaged in smart-phones. Material and Methods. Between January 2024 and April 2024, the SRM Institute of Science and Technology students participated in a simple random control study. 80 students between the ages of 18–25 were the subjects of this intervention. They were allocated into two groups at random, the control group (n=40) and the yoga practicing group (n=40). To evaluate sleep quality through the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and memory ability through a Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ), We analysed the data using an independent t test and a paired t test with a p-value of 0.05.Results. The yoga intervention revealed a substantial enhancement in sleep quality and memory agility within and between the group comparison. Notably, mean value of yoga group was a significant decrease in sleep quality from [7.93±1.62] to [4.93±1.67], indicating a marked enhancement in sleep quality following the intervention. In contrast, the control group showed [7.88±1.77] negligible change in sleep parameters. Moreover, the yoga group exhibited a notable improvement in memory performance, with the mean MMQ score increasing from [45.4 ± 8.88] to [55.35 ± 8.55]. In contrast, the control group showed [41.1±10.07] negligible change in memory ability. Both variables were significant at the 0.001 confidence level and accompanied by a large effect size (Cohen’s d > 0.8). Conclusion. The yoga intervention group developed sleep quality and memory ability comparable to the control group. Therefore, it is concluded that the yoga intervention group significantly increased sleep quality and memory power among college students who frequently engaged in smartphone.
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