YOGA FOR PHYSICAL FITNESS IN ADOLESCENTS

Abstract

Emerging society has considered physical fitness as one of the important indicators newlineof health. Being physically fit has been defined as quotthe ability to carry out daily tasks newlinewith vigor and alertness, without undue fatigue and with ample energy to enjoy newlineleisure-time pursuits and to meet unforeseen emergenciesquot. Physical fitness refers to newlinethe maximum capacity that people have or achieve while they perform physical newlineactivity that can be measured as the level of strength and flexibility of the muscular newlinegroups in different body parts.The aim was to explore the effect of yoga on physical fitness among adolescents.In this thesis, five different studies are reported. The source of subjects for all these newlinestudies was the Yoga based Personality Development Program (YPDC) held at newlineSVYASA Yoga University.The research design was innovative in incorporating different research methods such newlineas Cross sectional, Cohort, Pre-Post and Self as Control design, for the five newlinecomponents of this research that aimed at looking at the role of yoga in physical newlinefitness.The results of all five studies are summarized below: newline1) Study evaluated present status of muscular fitness and ventilatory function newlineusing Kraus-Weber Test and mini peak expiratory flow meter on adolescences has newlineshown out of 352 subjects tested 251(71.31%) subjects failed in completing the test newlinesuccessfully. The overall failure rate in boys was 71.9% while in girls it was 70.5% newlinewith non-significant difference between the two genders. The observation that the newlinegroup of students who succeeded on minimum muscular fitness had significantly newlinehigher PEFR, points to a positive relationship between muscle fitness and lung newlinefunctions. newline