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Objectives: Yoga practice includes a group of specific psychophysical techniques. Although previous studies showed beneficial effects of yoga for health and rehabilitation, improving quality of life, there are few studies on the possible therapeutic application of yoga during the climacteric period. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychophysiological effects of Hatha Yoga regular practice in post-menopausal women., Methods: Eighty-eight post-menopausal women volunteered for this 12-week trial. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups: control (no intervention), exercise, and yoga. Questionnaires were applied in order to evaluate climacteric syndrome (Menopause Rating Scale), stress (Lipp Stress Symptom Inventory), quality of life (Brief World Health Organization Quality of Life), depression (Beck Depression Inventory) and anxiety (State/Trait Anxiety Inventories). Physiological changes were evaluated through hormone levels (cortisol, FSH, LH, progesterone and estradiol)., Results: At 12 weeks, yoga practitioners showed statistically lower scores for menopausal symptoms, stress levels and depression symptoms, as well as significantly higher scores in quality of life when compared to control and exercise groups. Only control group presented a significant increase in cortisol levels. The yoga and exercise groups showed decreased levels of FSH and LH when compared to control group., Conclusions: These results suggest that yoga promotes positive psychophysiological changes in post-menopausal women and may be applied as a complementary therapy towards this population., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This article seeks to evaluate the effects of hatha yoga on stress and anxiety levels in mastectomized women. It also investigates the relationship between these levels with the following variables: age; marital status; religion; instruction; profession; smoke addiction; elitism; staging of the disease; and treatment phase. This involved controlled random clinical trial sampling of 45 mastectomized women treated at the Ilza Bianco outpatient service of Santa Rita de Cássia Hospital in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo from March to November 2010. The experimental group participated in 6 individually-applied sessions with incentive for ongoing home practice and was re-evaluated after the period, whereas the control group was re-evaluated after a proportional period. For the study of the variables, the interview and recording on a form technique was used, along with the Anxiety Trait and State Test, and the Stress Symptoms and Signs Test. For statistical treatment, the Statistical Pack for Social Sciences was used. The data are statistically significant and have shown that hatha yoga exercises decrease stress and anxiety in the experimental group. No connection between confounding variables and anxiety and stress levels was found.