Integrating Yoga into School Health Programs: A Preventive Strategy for Adolescent Mental and Physical Health

Abstract

Across much of the world, the health of adolescents has been quietly and steadily eroding. The causes are not mysterious: academic pressures, increasingly sedentary lives, near-constant digital immersion, and emotional coping skills that are rarely taught and often underdeveloped. The COVID19 pandemic then compressed years of psychosocial strain into months. This paper takes stock of what is known about one particular response to this crisis—the integration of yoga into school health programmes—and asks whether the evidence is strong enough to justify a more deliberate policy commitment. A narrative review was conducted drawing on peer-reviewed literature from Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, SpringerLink, and ScienceDirect, covering the period 2012 to 2026; approximately 55 studies and relevant policy documents were thematically analysed. Interventions under scrutiny span structured yoga formats including asana, pranayama, mindfulness practices, and relaxation techniques; outcomes examined include stress, emotional regulation, sleep, attention, classroom conduct, and physical fitness. On the theoretical side, autonomic nervous system regulation, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis modulation, and interoceptive self-regulation are considered as the mechanisms most plausibly linking yoga to health outcomes. The evidence is encouraging, though not uncomplicated. Well-designed yoga programmes appear to produce real psychological and physical gains. The literature, however, is fragmented, frequently short-term, poorly standardised, and—within Indian school systems specifically—markedly thin on the ground. The most consequential gaps are identified and the case is made that yoga deserves deliberate, evidence-guided integration into school wellness policy, particularly in light of India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

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