Workload regulation by Sudarshan Kriya: an EEG and ECG perspective

Abstract

Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) is a type of rhythmic breathing activity, trivially a form of Pranayama that stimulates physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. The objective of the present work is to verify the effect of meditation in optimizing task efficiency and regulating stress. It builds on to quantitatively answer if SKY will increase workload tolerance for divided attention tasks in the people sank in it. EEG and ECG recordings were taken from a total of twenty-five subjects who had volunteered for the experiment. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups of ‘control’ and ‘experimental.’ Their objective scores were collected from the experiment based on NASA’s multi-attribute task battery II and was utilized for workload assessment. Both the groups had no prior experience of SKY. The experimental group was provided with an intervention of SKY for a duration of 30 min everyday. Pre- and post-meditation data were acquired from both groups over a period of 30 and 90 days. It was observed that subjective score of workload (WL) was significantly reduced in the experimental group and performance of the subject increased in terms of task performance. Another astute observation included a considerable increase and decrease in the alpha and beta energies and root mean square of the EEG signal for the experimental group and control group, respectively. In addition to this sympathovagal balance index also decreased in experimental group which indicated reduction in stress. SKY had an effect on stress regulation which in turn enhanced their WL tolerance capacity for a particular multitask activity.

A yoga program for cognitive enhancement

“…These potentially different mechanisms may explain how yoga would improve both WM and mindfulness independently, such that measures involving these processes may be uncorrelated. Overall, our results are consistent with previous studies that reported improved WM and executive function performance following yoga training [ 51 – 56 ]. Furthermore, incorporating mindfulness practice in the present yoga program results in increased mindfulness that has been associated with increased WM function [ 37 , 38 ], increased wellbeing, decreased stress, and decreased mood disturbance [ 30 , 40 ].…”

Effects of Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya, a Multicomponent Breath-Based Yogic Practice (Pranayama), on Perceived Stress and General Well-Being

“… 51 Another study using these techniques reported improved stress regulation, sympathovagal balance, and workload tolerance compared with controls. 52 A randomized controlled trial using this set of practices also reported that the controlled breathing techniques were also shown to reduce examination stress and improve blood lipid profiles in stressed college students compared with controls. 53 Interestingly, a Qigong intervention incorporating a similar bandha , or abdominal retraction technique, reported increased mood, comfort, and sociability following the practice.…”

Assessment of mental workload based on multi-physiological signals

“…ECG is another physiological measurement for the evaluation of mental workload, which is used frequently in previous studies. HRV is considered to be sensitive to mental workload, which is most closely associated with autonomic nervous system (ANS) [ 36 , 37 ]. In the present study, it was shown that Mean RR, RMSSD, HF_norm and SampEn decreased significantly when the task difficulty increased, while LF_norm and LF/HF increased significantly.…”