Pune trial: 45 days of Common Yoga Protocol changed mood, sleep and brain connectivity in 139 adults

Researchers in Pune, India, report that 45 days of the Common Yoga Protocol (CYP) improved affect, sleep quality and some cognitive measures in healthy adults, and changed connectivity of several brain networks, according to an open-access paper on nature.com nature.comnature.comnature.comOpen source ↗. The randomized controlled study enrolled 139 non-smoking adults aged 18–55 who did not use alcohol. They were assigned to a 45-day CYP course (n = 70) or a waitlist control (n = 69).

CYP is a 45-minute module developed by experts for all ages and practiced in mass gatherings on the UN International Day of Yoga. Earlier evidence on CYP came from single-arm studies, and yoga trials in general differ in style and method, which complicates comparison. The trial ran at a university in Pune between October 2023 and January 2025 and was published in Scientific Reports.

Mood, sleep and cognition

The primary outcome was affect on the PANAS scale. Analysis was by intention to treat, using ANCOVA with the baseline value as a covariate. Positive affect rose in the yoga group (∆ = 4, p < 0.001) and negative affect fell (∆ = −3.4, p < 0.001). For the between-group difference in positive affect the authors give F(1, 136) = 10.08, p = 0.002.

Sleep quality on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index improved (∆ = −1.2, p < 0.001). The total Digit Span score increased (∆ = 1.1, p = 0.01), with forward span up by 0.84 (p < 0.001). Gains in backward span were not significant, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test showed no group differences nature.comnature.comnature.comOpen source ↗.

Brain network connectivity

Resting-state fMRI was done in a subgroup of 50 participants; 43 completed both time points (21 in the yoga group, 22 in the control group). Connectivity changes favouring yoga were found in the sensorimotor, cerebellar, language, salience and dorsal attention networks. Changes in the dorsal attention network correlated with positive affect.

Fourteen participants dropped out (11 in the yoga group, 3 in the control group) for reasons the authors describe as unrelated to the intervention, most often lack of time. Two serious adverse events, a motor vehicle accident and hematemesis, were also reported as unrelated to the intervention.