Yoga Nidra Practice Enhances Emotional Intelligence in University Students

Abstract

Background:

Emotional intelligence (EI) may have a positive effect on academic performance in university students. EI can be measured by an emotional quotient (EQ) test. Three important psychological dimensions of an EQ test are emotional sensitivity (ES), emotional maturity (EM), and emotional competency (EC), which motivate students to recognize truthfully, interpret honestly, and handle tactfully the dynamics of their behavioral patterns.

Objective:

To assess EI of university students through measuring their ES, EM, EC, and EQ.

Materials and Methods:

Sixty students (25 women and 35 men) studying masters and doctoral degree courses in a state government university in Madhya Pradesh, India, participated in this research study. They were divided into two groups randomly as 30 students (14 women and 16 men) in the yoga group and 30 students (11 women and 19 men) in the control group. The students from the yoga group with a mean age of 25.27 ± 1.51 years practiced yoga nidra (YN) for three weeks whereas students from the control group with a mean age of 25.27 ± 1.39 years followed their regular routine for three weeks. The ES, EM, EC, and EQ data were collected before and after a three-week period in both groups using an EQ test developed by Dr. Dalip Singh and Dr. N.K. Chadha. This EQ test has a test–retest and split-half reliability of 0.94 and 0.89, respectively, and validity of 0.89. Means, standard deviations, independent samples t-test, and paired samples t-test were assessed using the JASP program, a free and open-source graphical program for statistical analysis supported by the University of Amsterdam.

Results:

The independent samples t-test showed a significant increase before and after the YN in all the psychological dimensions, that is, ES, EM, EC, and EQ (P < 0.001), whereas there was no significant change observed in the control group. The paired samples t-test showed a significant increase in all the psychological dimensions in the yoga group (P < 0.001), whereas the change observed in the control group was not significant.

Conclusion:

The results showed that YN is associated with improvement in ES, EM, EC, and EQ among university students. Thus, YN may be an effective practice to enhance EI among university students, which may have a positive effect on their academic performance.