EFFECT OF YOGA ON PERCEIVED STRESS AMONG FIRST-YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS

Background: Medical students often face a significant amount of psychological stress. Although yoga can offer a practicalmind-body strategy for stress reduction, there is limited evidence for longer-term practice. Materials and Methods: Thestudy was a single-group pre–post design with 96 medical students aged 18–23 years who participated in a structured yogaprogramme for one year. The 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) was used to measure perceived stress at baseline andafter 1 year. Results: Mean PSS-10 score decreased significantly from 20.89 ± 6.54 to 17.89 ± 6.45, with a mean reductionof 3.00 points (95% CI 1.77–4.23; p<0.001) and a moderate effect size (Cohen’s dz=0.49). The percentage of students whoreported low perceived stress rose from 11.5% to 22.9%, and the percentage of students who reported high perceived stressdropped from 19.8% to 10.4%. Overall, 25.0% moved to a lower stress category. There was no significant differencebetween the sexes in improvement, but students with higher baseline stress showed greater improvement. Conclusion: Oneyear of regular yoga practice was associated with a significant decrease in perceived stress among medical students