Effect of Yoga trainings on hematological indices in female climbers

Exercise can cause various hematological changes and affect some blood parameters; among these, yoga exercises are one of the most practical exercises in this field. So the present study was conducted to compare Asana and Pranayama exercises on the hematological characteristics of women climbers.

The present study was semi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design and 2 experimental groups. For this purpose, 16 healthy women climbers with an age range of 20 to 45 years were purposefully selected and randomly divided into two groups of Pranayama and Asana exercises. The Asana and Pranayama protocol were performed for 8 weeks (3 days a week). At the end, the hematologic parameters were measured. The collected data were analyzed using ANCOVA test at the significance level of p < 0.05.

There was a significant difference between the two groups only in RBC (Asana: 5.69 ± 0.76, Pranayama:4.86 ± 0.62) while it was increased in Asana compared to Pranayama (p = 0.015). However, no statistically significant difference was observed in other indices (MCV, MCH, MCHC, leukocytes, hemoglobin and Percentage of hematocrit).

There was little difference between the two training exercises of Asana and Pranayama in hematologic parameters. Maybe since the abdominal breathing is included in Asana exercise, it presented similarly to Pranayama in hematologic indices. However, Asana was superior in RBC number calculation.