Yoga for kids can help promote self-esteem and improve school performance and behavior. Yoga practice may offer relief for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children with ADHD often have learning and behavioral difficulties in school. Ritalin, Adderall and other stimulant drugs are often prescribed for ADHD treatment. Since these drugs have serious side effects, complementary or alternative treatment therapies like yoga may help.
Yoga Helps Attention Problems
A study published in the German medical journal "Zeitchrift fur Kinder---un Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherpie" reports that yoga improved attention problems in children with ADHD. Researchers at the University of Heidelberg in Germany randomly assigned 19 children with ADHD to yoga for children or traditional exercise. The researchers found that the yoga group had significant improvement in ADHD symptoms including attention problems, compared to the exercise group. Furthermore, yoga was most effective for children undergoing drug treatment.
"The findings from this pilot study demonstrate that yoga can be an effective complementary or concomitant treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder," the study authors write. "The study advocates further research into the impact of yoga or body-oriented therapies on the prevention and treatment of ADHD."
Yoga Improves Behavior
Research published in the "Journal of Attention Disorders" suggests that yoga improves behavior and focus in school-age boys with ADHD. Researchers at the University of Sydney, Australia, administered either 20 sessions of yoga for children or cooperative activities to 19 school-age boys with ADHD and undergoing drug treatment. ADHD symptoms assessments were obtained from the participants. The researchers found that the yoga group had improvement in ADHD symptoms including behavior, compared to the nonyoga group. Furthermore, participants who additionally practiced yoga at home had even greater improvement in ADHD symptoms.
Yoga Meditation Helps Kids and Families
A study published in "Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry" found that yoga meditation improved children's ability to concentrate in school and helped family relationships. Australian researchers at the Prince of Wales Hospital administered two weekly sessions of Sahaja yoga meditation to 48 school-age children taking ADHD medication and their parents for six weeks. Sahaja yoga meditation techniques included visualization, music, nature and personal instruction as well as daily home practice. The researchers found a 35 percent improvement in ADHD symptoms. Many of the children reduced or went off medication. Parents reported less stress and an improved child-parent relationship.
References
- "Z Kinder Jugendpsychiatr Psychother"; The Effectiveness of Body-Oriented Methods of Therapy in the Treatment of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Results of a Controlled Pilot Study
- Journal of Attention Disorders: The Effects of Yoga on the Attention and Behavior of Boys With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- "Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry"; Sahaja Yoga Meditation as a Family Treatment Programme for Children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder
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