Integrated yoga therapy for improving mental health in managers

BACKGROUND: Managers’ lives have become a never-ending race against time, technology, and targets. This race creates tension, which leads to dissatisfaction and frustration and eventually manifests itself as psychological and physiological stress with mental and emotional drain. This modern lifestyle intensifies the stress leading to “Excessive Tension” and consequent deterioration in “Executive Efficiency.” OBJECTIVE: To assess mental health in managers undergoing yoga-based Self-Management of Excessive Tension (SMET) program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 72 managers with 48.75±3.86 years of mean age were participated in this study of single group pre–post design. The General Health Questionnaire data were taken on the first and sixth day of 5 days SMET program. RESULTS: The data analysis showed 68.25% decrease (P<0.001) in somatic symptoms, 66.29% decrease (P<0.001) in anxiety and insomnia, 65.00% decrease (P<0.001) in social dysfunction, 87.08% decrease (P<0.001) in severe depression, and 71.47% decrease (P<0.001) in all medical complaints. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that participation in a SMET program was associated with improvement in mental health and may have implications for “Executive Efficiency.”