BACKGROUND Stress, depression and anxiety have a yearly prevalence of 10 to 20% in the general population. All factors that cause one's conditions to diverge too far from the normal homeostasis lead to stress. Our attempts to restore the condition back to homeostasis also leads to stress. Stress affects quality of life by affecting the factors like level of unhappiness, focus, sleep disturbances, anger, frustration etc., because while responding to stress the sympathetic nervous system becomes active. Asthma, headache, IBS, anxiety and ulcers are the commonest presentations in stressful people. Various methods are studied in literature to relieve stress like exercise, walking, pranayam, meditation, gym, music and games. Sudarshan Kriya (SK) claims to have wide and varied effects on human body in different aspects. SK stimulates vagal response and counterbalances the effects of stress. MATERIALS AND METHODS This is a cohort study with group comparison of subjects regularly practicing SK for more than 6 months. Age matched controls used other Stress Releasing Measure (SRM) like walking, pranayam and gym with ethical standards. Data collection was done by close-ended questionnaire using Likert score for comparison of parameters. Statistical Analysis-The data were entered into the computer and analysed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 10.0 programs for Windows. Unpaired student's t-test, the mean and SD was calculated. The significant value was achieved at p < 0.05. RESULTS The selected population faced equal challenges in life. Stress created equal impact in the controls and study subjects. Although, the controls have shown a definite improvement in the quality of life after using stress releasing measures. But, the study shows that controls feel more stressed than SK doers (p was significant at 0.02). The regular SK doers are more focussed with a positive outlook. Categorically (Qualitatively), there was a significant shift towards Likert score of 5 in the SK doers (p= 0.002). SK doers significantly surpassed the control group by scoring highest on Likert scale in almost every parameter studied, e.g. levels of happiness, focus, sleep patterns, anger, frustration, outlook, habits of consuming alcohol, gutka, tobacco and even medical problems. Thus, life appears eased out in regular kriya doers. CONCLUSION SK relieves stress in general population in a very significant manner when compared with other stress releasing measures. SK has an extremely positive effect on physical and mental health of the general population. It can definitely be recommended as a highly beneficial, no risk, low cost option to take care of stress and its effects on the human body.

Background: Menopausal health concerns mainly include the vasomotor symptoms, cardiovascular symptoms, osteoporosis, cancer, sexual problems and urogenital atrophy. Our life style today leads to a lot of stress, depression and anxiety. Prolonged stress can make one experience the symptoms like menopause (though not actually inducing it).Yoga exercise meditation and life style modification have relieved stress and enhanced the quality of life. Sudarshan Kriya (SK) is a rhythmic breathing technique with 4 breath components. It has varied effects on body especially acting by relief of stress. Aims and Objective: Assess the effects of SK on the commonly perceived symptoms experienced by the postmenopausal women in central India. Materials and Methods: A random sample of 156 women was interviewed by administering a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. Questionnaire included 14 frequently occurring symptoms. Stress was scored on Likerts scale to assess the severity. (Score total =lowest 0 and highest 42). Those women doing regular SK for at least more than 1 year before the final menstrual period (n= 79) formed the Study group and women doing SK for less than 1year, women following other health practices, or not following any health practice at all (n=77) belonged to the Control group. Results: Women doing SK were found to be happier and content as compared to controls. SK with vegetarian diet was found effective in lowering the scores. Combining SK with exercises and yoga together can reduce the score to the lowest level. Minimum two years of regular practice was found enough to yield low scores and best quality of menopausal transformation. Conclusion: Initiating SK into the lives of postmenopausal women at the right time can assure a less morbid, more comfortable and a better quality of postmenopausal life. Rather, it has become more and more challenging to find a treatment which is more rewarding and less or non harmful at the same time. Stress depression and anxiety have become highly prevalent in the general population nowadays. Today's life style includes all those things which make us diverge too far from our natural homeostasis, thus leading to lot of stress. 2 Stress actually means feeling under pressure both physically and emotionally. The way our body reacts to a particular situation also varies from person to person. For some it remains reasonably comfortable, while for others it can be a very stressful one. Study backgroundTo cope up with stress our body produces cortisol. Infact, estrogen regulates this cortisol levels. But, during menopause as estrogen decreases, the regulation of cortisol gets affected and stress is experienced more readily. Study conducted elsewhere indicates, that continuous high level of prolonged stress can make one experience symptoms resembling menopause, though not actually inducing it. Yoga, exercise, meditation, life style modification have been found to relieve stress and ease out the menopausal transition thereby enhancing the quality of life. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] S...

Background of the Study: Amniotic fluid or liquor, the fluid around the developing fetus serves various functions. A balance of formation and reabsorption of this fluid has to be maintained. The amniotic fluid volume (AFV) undergoes changes during pregnancy. Oligohydramnios is a condition in which the AFV decreases and is associated with conditions like renal agenesis, placental dysfunction, congenital anomalies, anemia, PIH, hypoxia. Its effects depend on the duration of pregnancy. But when AFV decreases terminally, the chances of having a normal baby are more. Aims and Objective: This study was aimed to find the perinatal outcome in terms of LSCS and instrumental deliveries, needs for induction, neonatal mortality, low apgars, meconium staining, NICU admissions in women with oligohydramnios occurring after 34 weeks of pregnancy. Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study included women with singleton pregnancy admitted with intact membranes after 34 weeks. AFV was calculated by USG. Results: Less number of women had AF Index less than 5 cm but as AFV decreases risk of LSCS increases and spontaneous onset of labor ends mostly with vaginal deliveries. Amniotic fluid Index less than 5 cm increases the risk of low Apgar, septicaemia and neonatal mortality. Although Apgar was low at 1 min, it improved at 5 min suggesting a good adaption outside utero. Conclusion: Low AF Index (as determined by USG)in last trimester was associated with increased risk of adverse perinatal outcome like operative delivery, fetal distress, NICU, low apgar, septicemia, neonatal mortality. Here, Doppler can relieve obstetrician stress in decision making and amnioinfusion in selected cases can reduce operative morbidity. Parameters like risk of septicemia and effects in extremes of maternal age need to be evaluated further in a larger number of cases.