Effect of selected yoga techniques as an adjunct to vilwamoola khala and satwavajaya chikitsa in insomnia

Insomnia is a major public health problem and is the most common sleep disturbance in both adults and children. It is the difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep or both, or the perception of poor sleep quality, in which the patient’s physical, psychological and social activities are interfered with, by a strong feeling of sleep deficiency upon waking in the morning. Insomnia is one among the 7 categories of sleep disorders in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders-3(ICSD-3(2020)).

In Ayurveda, nidra has been given prime importance and hence included in the tripods of life. So alteration in the natural process of nidra has a huge impact on the life processes as well. These alterations include nidranasa (complete loss of sleep), alpanidra (partial loss of sleep), nidradhikya (excess sleep) etc. Nidranasa, alpanidra, nidradhikya are vata, pitta, kapha nanatmaja vyadhis respectively. Clinical studies have proven the effect of use of vilwamoola khala and satwavajaya chikitsa as well as yoga in insomnia. This study is done with an intention to find out their add on effect.

A Quasi experimental study will be conducted in 60 participants of age group 20-60 years, satisfying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Out of 60 participants, 30 will be consecutively selected and alternately allocated to study group (group 1) and control group (group2) . In Group 1 selected yoga techniques along with use of vilwamoola khala and satwavajaya chikitsa are done in insomnia. In Group 2, only use of vilwamoola khala and satwavajaya chikitsa are advised. The study period is for 30 days. Assessment will be done on 0th, 31st and 46th day using Pittsburgh sleep quality index & data analyzed accordingly.