Impact of Pranayama on Audiovisual Reaction Time among Young Adults

Background: Yoga and pranayama have gained increasing attention among medical students for the exceptional benefits offered in their performance as well as overall health. Hence, we aimed to explore the effects of Nadi Shudhi Pranayama (NSP), Suryanadi Pranayama (SNP), and Chandranadi pranayama (CNP) on audiovisual reaction time parameters considered to be a noninvasive measure of cognitive aptitude. Methods: This prospective interventional study was performed on 90 medical students with an average age of 19.5 ± 0.95 years of a private medical college. The students were assigned to groups A, B, and C each practicing 5 min of NSP, SNP, and CNP, respectively. Auditory reaction time (ART) and visual reaction time (VRT) were recorded before and after all three types of pranayama techniques. The pre- and postvalues were compared using paired t -test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the values of ART and VRT involving NSP, SNP, and CNP. Results: ART and VRT values reduced significantly following NSP with P values of 0.018 and 0.003, respectively, and SNP with P values of 0.001 and < 0.001, respectively, whereas a notable decrease in ART values from 352 ms (335–405) to 345 ms (320–394) after CNP was observed with a P value of 0.04. Conclusion: The outcomes demonstrated a striking enhancement in response times immediately after the pranayama procedures, implying that medical students’ cognitive processing and response speed can be improved by practicing these techniques.