The Effects of Physical Activity and Yoga on Perceived Stress and Health Julie Gunther and Janet Kosarych-Coy, Ph.D Department of Psychology, St. Mary’s College of Maryland INTRODUCTION Every individual on this earth experiences stress at some point in his or her lifetime. For some people stress can be health-promoting if it is controlled and balanced (Demand-control and Effort-reward model; Seigrist, 2008). However, when stress is prolonged and seemingly uncontrollable, it will diminish health. Physiologically, stress affects the cardiovascular, endocrine and immune systems. Subjectively, stress sometimes results in depression, anxiety, tiredness, muscle pain, and headaches (Lundberg, 2006). Many strategies have been created to help individuals cope with stress. In this study, I concentrated on physical activity and yoga as coping strategies, though many more management techniques exist. Research shows that when participants are physically active they report more positive mental and physical outcomes (Crone and Guy, 2008; Daubenmier et al., 2007; Ginis et al., 2003). Furthermore, several recent studies that compared physical activity and yoga discovered that yoga participants experienced more positive effects than physical activity participants (Crone and Guy; Netz and Lidor, 2003). The current study focused on the relationship between two types of physical activity (traditional physical activity, e.g., cardiovascular and strength training, and yoga training) and perceived stress and effects on health. Based on the studies by Duraiswamy et al., Netz and Lidor, I predicted that yoga participants would experience less stress and more health benefits than physical activity participants. RESULTS  Physical activity participants spent significantly more hours per week performing their activity than yoga participants, χ 2 (4, N = 230) = , p <.05.  No significant differences between yoga and physical activity participants’ scores on Perceived Stress Scale.  Yoga participants reported stress more often as a motivating factor or perceived health effect than physical activity participants, χ 2 (1, N = 231) = 8.426, p <.005 and χ 2 (1, N = 231) = , p <.001, respectively. METHODS Participants 232 students at SMCM, 47 male (20.3%), 185 female (75%), 218 physical activity participants, 14 yoga participants Materials Online survey hosted by Survey Monkey  Amount of time spent participating in physical activity or yoga  Motivating factors  Subjective health effects  Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, and Mermelstein, 1983)  Demographics Procedure  Participants gave informed consent prior to the survey and were debriefed upon completion.  Participants were not required to answer all questions and could skip questions if they felt uncomfortable or did not wish to answer. DISCUSSION Although my main hypothesis was not supported by the Perceived Stress Scale, open-ended responses revealed significant differences between the yoga and physical activity groups. The two groups did not differ on perceived physical and mental health benefits (refer to Figures 2 and 3 above), but significantly more yoga participants reported stress as a motivating factor or health benefit than physical activity participants. This result could be due to a combination of reasons. The sample sizes for these groups were extremely different (Physical Activity N=218 & Yoga N=14). Due to the small size of the yoga group, a Type II error could have occurred. However, the results may also indicate that while all participants felt similarly stressed, yoga participants reported their activity as a stress reliever or way to cope with stress more often than physical activity participants. The current study supported the claim that more physical activity equates to less stress (as shown in Figure 1). It is important for individuals to respect the beneficial aspects of physical activity and attempt to incorporate these values into their daily lives. Additionally, research should continue to investigate the subjective and objective differences between physical activity and yoga training. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my mentor, Janet Kosarych-Coy, Dr. Aileen Bailey, and my parents for all their advice and support. REFERENCES Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, Doi: / Crone, D. & Guy, H. (2008). ‘I know it’s only exercise, but to me it is something that keeps me going’: A qualitative approach to understanding mental health service users’ experiences of sports therapy. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 17, Retrieved from PsycInfo Database. Daubenmier, J., Weidner, G. Sumner, M., Mendell, N., Studley, J., Ornish, D. (2007). The contribution of changes in diet, exercise, and stress management to change in coronary risk in women and men in the Multisite Cardiac Lifestyle intervention program. Annals of Behavioral Science, 33, Duraiswamy, G., Thirthalli, J., Nagendra, H., Gangadhar, B. (2007). Yoga therapy as an add-on treatment in the management of patients with schizophrenia—A randomized controlled trial. Aeta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 116, Retrieved from PsycInfo Database. Ginis, K., Latimer, A., McKechnie, K., Ditor, D., McCartney, N., Hicks, A., Bugaresti, J., Craven, B. (2003). Using exercise to enhance subjective well-being among people with spinal cord injury: The mediating influences of stress and pain. Rehabilitation Psychology, 48, Lundberg, U. (2006). Stress, subjective and objective health. International Journal of Social Welfare, 15, S41-S48. Retrieved from PsycInfo Database. Netz, Y. & Lidor, R. (2003). Mood alterations in mindful verses aerobic exercise modes. Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 137, Siegrist, J. (2008). Chronic psychosocial stress at work and risk of depression: Evidence from prospective studies. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 258, Retrieved from PsycInfo Database. Figure 1. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) mean scores plot for all participants Figure 2. Common themes and the number of participants (in percentages) who stated theme as motivating factor Figure 3. Common themes and the number of participants (in percentages) who stated theme as health effect