Our finding of improvement in perception of mental/emotional
health is supported by other recent yoga intervention studies.
Halpern and colleagues conducted a 12-week yoga intervention
with 67 community-dwelling elderly participants who suffered
from insomnia [31], and reported significant improvements in
emotional health (as assessed by the SF-36, which is a more
comprehensive version of the shorter SF-12), and reduced feelings
of stress, anxiety, and depression. The investigators also reported
improvements in the SF-36 physical health score in the yoga group
as well, although the general health score did not significantly