Effect of yogic practice and aerobic exercise on resting pulse rate and blood pressure among school girls

The purpose of the study was to find out the effect of yogic practices and aerobic exercise on resting pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Thirty school girls aged between 15 and 17 years were selected for the study. They were divided into three equal groups, each group consisted of ten subjects, in which Group I underwent yogic practice and group II underwent aerobic exercise (walk-jog-walk programme), five days per week for twelve weeks and group III acted as control, who did not participate in any training. The subjects were tested on selected criterion variables such as restin g pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure at prior to and immediately after the training period. Resting pulse rate was assessed by counting the pulse at resting condition. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was measured by using sphygmomanometer. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to find out the significant difference if any, between the experimental groups and control group on selected criterion variables separately. Since, there were three groups involved, the Scheffé S test was used to find out which of the adjusted post test mean was differ significantly. The selected criterion variables such as resting pulse rate was reduced significantly for both the training groups when compared with the control group and the systolic and diastolic blood pressure were also significantly reduced for yogic practice group and aerobic exercise group. There was no significant difference was found between the yogic practice group and aerobic exercise group on resting pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Key Words: Yogic Practice, Aerobic Exercise, Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure, ANCOVA, Scheffé S Test.
Authors: Vishnu Raj R
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