Effects of Yoga Practice on Adolescents Mental Health

INTERVENTION: This is a double‐blind, randomized controlled trial involving two groups. The study will be conducted at a leading high school in the municipality of Vitória de Santo Antão, in the state of Pernambuco. The study population will consist of adolescents aged 14 to 19 years of both sexes. Adolescents who practice yoga regularly and those who do not meet the sample’s exposure criteria will be excluded. The total sample will consist of 145 adolescents, randomly assigned to two groups: 73 in the waiting list group (WLG) and 72 in the Hatha Yoga group (HYG). The adolescents will undergo screening to assess the presence of depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress, and sleep quality using questionnaires previously validated for this population, and a yoga training protocol will be implemented. The intervention will be conducted in the school setting by a qualified, certified, and previously trained instructor and will take place twice a week, consisting of 50‐minute sessions over an 8‐week period. At the end of the intervention, the adolescents will be re‐evaluated, and the collected data will be subjected to statistical analysis CONDITION: Anxiety; Subjective Stress; Sleep quality ; Depression F01.145.126.350 PRIMARY OUTCOME: To evaluate the effects of hatha yoga on anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, stress, and sleep quality in high school adolescents, as assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale for Adolescents, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS‐10), using the scores obtained from the questionnaires to determine whether there was a significant change SECONDARY OUTCOME: Compare the effects of the hatha yoga intervention with those of the waiting list group, using a comparative analysis method and appropriate statistical tests, such as analysis of variance (ANOVA) or regression analysis, to assess the differences between the groups Describe the sociodemographic profile of adolescents, as determined by the sociodemographic questionnaire developed by the Brazilian Association of Research Companies (ABEP), using parameters such as mean age, gender, age group, income distribution, and educational attainment, and noting the percentages for each variable To analyze the effects of hatha yoga on symptoms of anxiety, depressive symptoms, stress, and sleep quality, as assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale for Adolescents, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS‐10), observing changes in means and percentages over the study period To assess symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, and sleep quality in adolescents, using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale for Adolescents, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS‐10), and to examine possible associations and percentage changes INCLUSION CRITERIA: Adolescents of both sexes; between 14 and 19 years of age; be physically fit to engage in physical exercise; have received authorization to participate in the study from their legal guardians; score positively for symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, and poor sleep quality in the questionnaires administered