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Abstract

A dominating presence in modern life is stress, manifesting from physical, mental, or
emotional triggers. Stress induced hormonal variations can lead to physiological change such as
increased heart rate, increased rate of respiration, and vasoconstriction. While everyone
experiences stress to some degree, chronic stress may lead to compromised health. One strategy
that has been shown to effectively combat elevated stress levels is yoga. The purpose of this
study is to analyze how physiological symptoms resulting from acute mental stress are affected
by body positions, specifically yoga positions. The 28 participants (14 male; 14 female) were
randomly assigned to perform one of four body positions: standing up, laying down, sitting
cross-legged, and Child’s pose. To induce acute mental stress, participants were instructed to
take a Wonderlic IQ test and informed that their performances would be compared to their peers.
Following the stressor, participants assumed the assigned body position. It was hypothesized that
the participants’ physiological indicators of stress would measure closer to resting state by
performing Child’s pose as compared to sitting cross-legged. Body position was found to
significantly affect heart rate and blood pressure. However, results did not support significant
changes in respiration rate. Child’s pose failed to reduce heart rate and on average increased
heart rate by 6.1 bpm. Child’s pose increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 20 mmHg
and 14 mmHg, respectively. Sitting cross-legged decreased heart rate by 8.7 bpm, and increased
the systolic and diastolic blood pressures by 1 mmHg and 3 mmHg, respectively. Respiration
rate was unaffected. We found no other studies that investigated how body position may
influence physiological stress symptoms after acute mental stress. Chronic stress is known to
manifest adverse health effects. This study provides physiological insight to how stress may be
efficiently managed in short time periods while exploring this relatively untouched corner of
stress physiology research.