Effectiveness of Aromatherapy Yoga

Yang Shang-Yu89 enrolled

Overview

College students, particularly female students, often suffer from severe stress and poor sleep. Aromatherapy yoga has become a popular exercise in recent years and may help reduce stress and improve sleep quality, although empirical evidence is limited. We investigated the effective-ness of aromatherapy yoga intervention in reducing stress and improving sleep quality among female college students. Eighty-nine participants (44 in the experimental group \[aromatherapy yoga\] and 45 in the control group \[yoga\]), with an average age of 19.88 ± 1.13 years, were en-rolled in this quasi-experimental study. Interventions were performed in the respective groups once a week for 12 weeks, for 90 minutes each time. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Mann-Whitney U test (including effect size) were used to test the differences in stress reduction and sleep quality before and after the intervention.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Female College Students

Interventions

The research assistant diluted the Lavandula angustifolia essential oil with distilled water (1:75) 10 min before the yoga session started. The solution was then atomized by three aroma diffusers, placed in the front, middle, and back of the classroom. The distance from each participant was less than 10 m to ensure that the aroma was absorbed com-pletely. The yoga course for the aromatherapy yoga group was the same as that of the yoga only group. The yoga group only took a yoga course, without aromatherapy.

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 21 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * We included female college students aged \> 18 years, who were able to understand the questionnaire. Exclusion Criteria: * We excluded male students, those with a history of respiratory disease, asthma, or allergy to flowers, plants, or essential oils, those who worked at night, and those with a history of mental diseases.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Perceived Stress Scale 14 (PSS-14)

PSS-14 is the scale that is most widely used for measuring the degree to which situations in one's life are appraised as being stressful.

Time frame: 10-15 minutes

Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)

The PSQI developed by Buysse et al. \[45\], which evaluates sleep quality of the participants in the past month.