Stress is major problem faced by most of the people in the present environment. This phenomenon is more pronounced in young adults. Stress adversely affects the learning capacity of the student and stress induced headache is most commonly seen as immediate adverse effect of stress. Persistent stress also harms almost all the systems of the body including cardiovascular system predisposing the individual at higher risk for development of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. Pranava Yoga is one of the most popular techniques of yoga which involves Aum chanting. Pranava yoga is very simple yogic exercise and might be beneficial in relieving stress. One hundred asymptomatic healthy male medical students, aged 17-25 years, participated voluntarily. Acute stress was produced experimentally by using cold water of 80 C as per protocol of cold pressor test which is autonomic function test and produces marked stimulation sympathetic nervous system. Subjects were exposed to acute stress by standard procedure of CPT. Cardiovascular parameters were recorded using Impedance Cardiovasograph (Nivomon) and automatic digital sphygmomanometer. All the parameters were recorded before CPT, immediately after CPT and finally 5 minutes after CPT. All the above steps were repeated with a modification that subjects performed Pranava Yoga during cold pressor test and continued performing Pranava Yoga for next 5 minutes. All the parameters were recorded before CPT, immediately after CPT and 5 minutes after CPT. Statistical analysis was done by One-Way ANOVA and Tukey post Hoc tests using the window SPSS Statistics 17.0 version. Results showed that there was significant increase in all cardiovascular parameters immediately after exposure to cold stress for two minutes while all the cardiovascular parameters returned back to normal baseline after 5 minutes. In second stage subjects were performing Pranava Yoga during CPT and in recovery phase after CPT. All cardiovascular parameters increased significantly immediately after CPT nullifying the effect of Pranava Yoga but all the cardiovascular parameters recorded 5 minutes after CPT was significantly lower in comparison to parameters recorded before CPT nullifying the effect of cold stress. These results suggest that Pranava Yoga might not prevent appearance of stress induced adverse changes in the cardiovascular system and other parts of body but Pranava Yoga not only abolishes the stress induced changes but also produces marked relaxation even more than basal state before exposure to stress.

Keywords: Pranava Yoga; Acute Stress; Impedance Cardiovasograph.