Publication:

Yin yoga improves sleep quality more than Vinyasa yoga on female office workers with mild to moderate insomnia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background The COVID-19 pandemic triggers anxiety in individuals due to uncertain changes. Female workers experience greater stressors because of the demands related to work and family; thus, they are prone to chronic sleep disorders, insomnia, and other conditions. Yoga, as an alternative to medical therapy, can reduce the hyperarousal state caused by autonomic imbalance and improve sleep quality. The objective of this study was to measure the effectiveness of Yin and Vinyasa yoga in enhancing sleep quality in female office workers suffering from mild to moderate insomnia.

Methods This experimental study employed a before and after test control group design. Respondents were 30 female office workers in Malang and Bali with sleep disorders measured by the insomnia severity index (ISI), which were divided into two groups of 15. The PSQI measurement was performed to determine changes in sleep quality post-intervention.

Results Wilcoxon test assessed the hypothesis, and all components have p<0.05, which indicates a significant difference between pre and post-Vinyasa yoga intervention and similar results for the Yin yoga with paired t test. To test the comparison of the mean sleep quality using the Mann Whitney U test, the value of p=0.019 (p<0.05) showed a significant difference post-intervention. Descriptive statistics show the improvement in the Vinyasa Yoga and Yin yoga groups was by 60% and 86.7, respectively.

Conclusions From the results, the conclusion is that Yin yoga improves sleep quality better than Vinyasa yoga for female office workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.