iRest Yoga-Nidra on the College Campus: Changes in Stress, Depression, Worry, and Mindfulness
STS Instructor Authored by Jeffrey Tarrant
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Study at a glance
- Area
- Anxiety & Stress
- Study type
- Pilot / open study
- Authors
- Eastman-Mueller H, Wilson T, Jung AK, Kimura A, Tarrant J
- Journal
- International Journal of Yoga Therapy
- Year
- 2013
- Participants
- 66
- Population
- Adults
- Protocol
- iRest yoga-nidra
- Sessions
- 8 weeks
Key findings
- Significant pre-post reductions in perceived stress, worry and depression
- Mindfulness skills improved
- How depressed students were at the start explained much of the fall in worry and stress
- Uncontrolled pre-post design with added qualitative feedback
Sixty-six college students aged 18 to 56 took an 8-week iRest yoga-nidra course (a guided deep-relaxation practice) run over eight semesters, completing stress, worry, depression and mindfulness questionnaires before and after. Scores on all three distress measures dropped significantly and mindfulness skills rose. Much of the drop in worry and stress was explained by students' starting levels of depression. There was no control group.