Effect of yoga intervention on psychological symptoms of menopause - a randomized controlled trial

Menopause can be said as permanent cessation of menstruation and fertility. It is an important time of transition in a woman's life, a time that challenges nurses to provide critical evaluation, counseling and support. The presence of psychological symptoms post-menopause may decrease the health related quality of life in women, because a majority still do not take any treatment for these symptoms. Yoga as a mind body therapy that not only tones and conditions the body exterior, but they also work wonders internally on the mind as well. The objective of the study was to assess and compare the effect of yoga on psychological symptoms of menopause before and after administration of Yoga between yoga and non yoga group of menopausal women. The study was conducted using a true experimental design with random assignment to treatment group and control group among 228 menopausal women. Cluster sampling technique with randomization was followed in this study. Data were collected by utilizing standardized menopause rating Scale. Majority (70.4%) of the menopausal women experienced mild psychological symptoms in the post test after yoga. The mean improvement of yoga group was 6.4±1.8 and the same was statistically very highly significant (P<0.001). This study implies that yoga intervention has a remarkable effect on the Psychological symptoms of menopausal women.