Working Women: Their perceived stress levels and nonpharmacological yoga intervention for management

Background: Work-related stress significantly impacts women’s mental health, leading to associated health issues requiring pharmacological interventions. With 37% of working women globally affected by stress, effective and accessible interventions are urgently needed. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of Bhramari Pranayama (BP) in managing stress among working women using the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) and a validated self-help tool: Bhramari Pranayama Standard Operating Procedure (BPSOP). Methods: A single-arm clinical trial was conducted on 67 women aged 22–40 years with moderate to severe stress (PSS scores: 14–40). Exclusion criteria included low-stress scores (<13), severe psychological or systemic disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and ear infections. Participants underwent a 3-day in-person BP training followed by 20 days of intervention via the online Zoom platform. BP was practiced for 30 minutes daily (15 rounds) in the evenings. Pre- and post-intervention PSS-10 scores were compared. Results: The mean pre-intervention PSS score was 22.51, while the post-intervention mean was 14.28, showing a significant reduction. The calculated p-value (.000) was statistically significant, and the effect size (1.7) indicated a large magnitude of improvement, with post-intervention scores at the 95.5 percentile of pre-intervention values. Conclusion: Bhramari Pranayama is effective in reducing stress among working women. This effort is in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 3 and highlights the need for action towards the fulfillment of SDG 5,8,10. Limitations include the single-arm design, small sample size, and online delivery. Future studies can explore its impact on hormonal stress markers and expand the findings through randomized controlled trials. The validated BPSOP tool offers a promising, accessible self-help intervention for stress management. The clinical trial was registered with the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) on 17 ^th April 2023 with the registration number CTRI/2023/04/051650.