A four-week yoga-based stress management program produced large improvements in depression, anxiety, and perceived stress among high school students, according to a cluster randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of Adolescence. Researchers Nesrin Arslan and Aysun Ardic, of Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa and Karabuk University, studied 120 adolescents, average age 16.9, across eight high schools.
Students in the intervention group attended weekly 50-minute sessions combining cognitive-behavioral stress management techniques with Yin yoga, a slower-paced style that holds poses for extended periods. A comparison group received only a single brief stress-education session. Compared with that group, participants in the yoga program showed significantly greater reductions in depression, anxiety, and stress, along with improved psychological well-being and confidence in their own yoga practice, with the gains still measurable three months later.