Practising yoga in the early hours of the day may offer greater benefits for sleep, mental health and lifestyle habits among young adults than evening sessions, according to a recent randomised controlled trial conducted by researchers of NIMHANS-Bengaluru, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (SVYASA), and Central University of Rajasthan.
The study, published in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, examined how the timing of yoga practice influences quality of life, sleep patterns, psychological health and lifestyle behaviour. While yoga is widely recognised as a holistic intervention, the role of practice timing in alignment with the body’s circadian rhythm has remained relatively underexplored.
Study parameters
The trial was conducted among post-graduate students in Bengaluru between May 2022 and March 2023. A total of 156 participants were divided into three groups: a morning yoga group (6 am to 7 am), an evening yoga group (6 pm to 7 pm), and a control group. Of these, 82 participants completed the four-week intervention, which involved guided online yoga sessions for one hour a day, five days a week.
Both morning and evening yoga groups showed clear improvements over the control group across several measures, including quality of life, psychological health, sleep quality and certain lifestyle behaviour. However, the morning yoga group demonstrated additional benefits in specific areas.
