Frequency of Yoga Practice Predicts Health: Results of a National Survey of Yoga Practitioners

Table 3

Results of final linear and logistic regression models predicting health outcomes from specific types of yoga practice^a in combination with influential demographic predictors (𝑁=1045).

Health outcome	Final predictors^b	𝐵	S.E.	t
Mindfulness	Breath work^c	1.60	.29	5.51^*
	Meditation^c	1.05	.28	3.71^*
	Philosophy study	.31	.08	4.09^*
Subjective well-being	Meditation^c	2.80	.71	3.95^*
	Philosophy study	.76	.20	3.87^*
	Gender^d	3.40	.91	3.73^*
BMI (𝑛=1034)	Vigorous poses^e	−.05	.02	−3.27^*
	Philosophy study	−.16	.07	−2.22^**
	Gender^d	−2.03	.32	−6.34^*
Fruit and vegetables/day (𝑛=1043)	Standing poses^e	.024	.01	3.31^*
	Gentle poses^f	.36	.11	3.16^*
	Gender^d	−.59	.15	−4.03^*
	Age	.01	.01	3.17^*
Sleep disturbance	Vigorous poses^e	−.07	.14	−5.50^*
Fatigue	Inversions^e	−.05	.01	−4.62^*
	Meditation^c	−.52	.18	−2.83^*
	Age	−.05	.01	−−6.53^*
				Wald/OR
Vegetarian status^g	Gentle poses^f	.73	.24	9.05^*/2.07^*
	Philosophy study	.24	.06	15.84^*/1.27^*
Alcohol consumption^h	Gentle poses^f	−.48	.13	14.37^*/.621^*
	Race^i	.92	.22	17.56^*/.53^*

aSpecific yoga practices: physical poses (standing, vigorous, inversions, and gentle), breath work, meditation, and yoga philosophy study. bEach final model includes all predictors included in the final model. Demographic covariates were included if they had at least a small (𝑟=.1) and significant (𝑃<.05) correlation with the health variable. No demographic variable met these criteria that was not included in the final model. c≤ or > once per week. ^dGender coded “0” = male “1” = female. ^eDays per month. ^f≤ or ≥ 30 minutes per week. ^gVegetarian status coded no = “0”, yes = “1”. ^hAlcohol consumption (number of drinks one consumes on a typical day when one drinks) coded ≤2 drinks per day = “0”, >2 drinks per day. ⁱRace coded “0” = other, “1” = white. Abbreviations—𝐵: unstandardized beta weight. SE: standard error. t: t score for linear regressions. Wald: Wald statistic for logistic regressions. OR: odds ratio. BMI: body mass index. Note: For all measures, higher scores indicate more of the concept measured. ^*𝑃<0.05 level (2-tailed). ^**𝑃<0.01 (2-tailed).