Abstract:
Numerous biological systems are impacted by the effects of aging, resulting in the initiation of various physiological, psychological, and cognitive processes among the aged. This quantitative research project was designed to lessen some of these effects, aiming to develop a seated yoga exercise program for the elderly, and then to study its effectiveness. Research instruments included a hand grip strength meter, a sit and reach test, the Suanprung stress test 20 (SPST-20), and a digit span memory task. Participants consisted of fifty elderly volunteers who lived in the Ang Sila municipality, Chonburi province; they were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups using simple random sampling. Data were analyzed by repeated MANOVA and one-way MANOVA. The results revealed that 1) the developed program was suitable for enhancing physical, psychological, and cognitive abilities in the elderly and 2) after training, the hand grip strength, body flexibility, and short-term memory scores in the experimental group exhibited a significant increase when compared to the scores before the experiment t (p<.01) and to the scores of the control group (p<.05). Moreover, the stress scores in the experimental group exhibited a significant decrease when compared to the scores before the experiment (p<.05), and also to the scores of the control group (p<.05). Therefore, a seated yoga exercise program can improve the physical, psychological, and cognitive abilities of the elderly, arising from the integrated coordination of the physiological systems in homeostasis control.