Effect of a single session of yoga and meditation on stress reactivity: A systematic review.

A single session of yoga or its components—meditation, breathing techniques, or yoga postures—can reduce acute stress reactivity in healthy adults. A systematic review of 28 randomized controlled or crossover trials involving 2,574 participants found that 21 studies reported benefits favoring the intervention. Specifically, 71% of studies measuring physiological outcomes and 65% of those measuring psychological outcomes showed reduced stress reactivity. The evidence suggests that brief yoga-based practices are effective for stress management, though more research with larger, more diverse populations is needed.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This systematic review synthesises the evidence for the effectiveness of a single session of yoga or its components including meditation and breathing techniques in reducing acute stress reactivity in healthy adults. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we searched Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane, CINAHL, and PsycINFO on 30th July 2023 for randomised controlled or crossover trials of yoga components and reporting physiological and/or psychological outcome measure(s) related to stress reactivity. Risk of bias (ROB) was assessed using the Cochrane ROB 2 tool. Data were synthesised narratively. Twenty-one out of 28 eligible studies (n = 2574) relating to 31 interventions (meditation [n = 22], breathing [n = 4] and yoga [n = 5]) reported outcomes in favour of the intervention. Stress reactivity was reported to be reduced by 71% of studies measuring physiological outcomes and 65% of studies measuring psychological outcomes. These studies show that a single session of yoga components is effective in reducing acute stress reactivity in adults and could be recommended for stress management. Future studies with larger populations and a more equal representation of genders and age groups are warranted.