TY - JOUR T1 - Impact of asanas and pranayama on blood oxygen saturation level JF - British Journal of Sports Medicine JO - Br J Sports Med SP - i69 LP - i69 DO - 10.1136/bjsm.2010.078725.228 VL - 44 IS - Suppl 1 AU - C Ashok Y1 - 2010/09/01 UR - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/44/Suppl_1/i69.1.abstract N2 - Consistent practice of yoga postures and pranayama increases the lung's airflow, air capacity, stamina and efficiency. Back bending postures open the chest, improving both lung and heart functions. Upper back bends and chest opening postures relieve hardness if it is harder to exhale during asthma attacks. Forward bends and lower back bending poses relieve difficulty if it is more difficult to inhale. Inverted postures drain excess mucus from the lungs and balance the immune system. A general yoga practice reduces stress, physical tension, and muscle tightness and increases overall feelings of well being by activating the parasympathetic nervous system. Blood carries oxygen in two forms, the majority is bound to haemoglobin (oxyhaemoglobin) and the rest is dissolved in the aqueous phase of blood (the plasma). The dissolved fraction is dependent upon the partial pressure of oxygen. As the partial pressure increases, the dissolved fraction of oxygen increases. Hence the experimenter was very much interested in studying the effect of asanas and pranayama in blood oxygen saturation level at ear. Thus three groups were studied – control, experimental-I and experimental-II. However the groups were assigned randomly to three conditions namely no treatment, treatment as asanas and treatment as pranayama. The analysis of covariance had been worked out and the obtained F is 3.75 for 2 and 11 df falls short of the critical value of 3.98 at 0.05 level. It was observed from the study that the three groups differ significantly. ER -