Effects of Yoga Nidra on Stress, Anxiety, and Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
PRISMA systematic review and meta-analysis (73 studies, n=5,201) of yoga nidra for stress, anxiety, and depression: between-group Hedges' g favored yoga nidra versus active and versus no/ passive comparators on all three domains, with authors warning that low study quality and heterogeneous delivery likely inflate pooled magnitudes.
Design
- Corpus: 73 studies, 5,201 participants after screening 814 records across seven databases plus a trial registry (per abstract)
- Synthesis: between-group and within-group meta-analyses on stress, anxiety, and depression outcomes
Between-group Hedges' g (abstract-reported)
Versus active comparators:
- Stress: −0.80
- Anxiety: −1.35
- Depression: −0.69
Versus no training / passive comparators:
- Stress: −1.70
- Anxiety: −1.43
- Depression: −0.92
Negative g = direction favoring yoga nidra on symptom scales pooled by the authors.
Interpretation hygiene (authors + registry)
Abstract stresses low methodological quality and high variability in how yoga nidra was delivered—moderate-to-large pooled effects should be read as literature-level signals, not guaranteed individual responses. Informal “NSDR” branding in apps and podcasts is not automatically identical to the interventions coded here; treat wearable N=1 logs on yoga-nidra-and-nsdr as a separate tier.
How to pair in this wiki
- Mindfulness meditation (
meditation-practice) — overlapping skills when programmes blend components; Goyal 2014 remains the broad MBSR/MBCT RCT pool. - Progressive muscle relaxation (
progressive-muscle-relaxation) — different somatic procedure; compare pooled sleep / anxiety SMDs cautiously.
Publication
Ghai S, Odyniec P, Ghai I. Ann N Y Acad Sci. Epub 2025; PMID 41327816; DOI 10.1111/nyas.70149.
Outcomes
- Effect Size (Cohen's d / SMD)-0.8d (Cohen's d)
- Effect Size (Cohen's d / SMD)-1.7d (Cohen's d)
- Effect Size (Cohen's d / SMD)-1.35d (Cohen's d)
- Effect Size (Cohen's d / SMD)-1.43d (Cohen's d)
- Effect Size (Cohen's d / SMD)-0.69d (Cohen's d)
- Effect Size (Cohen's d / SMD)-0.92d (Cohen's d)
- Authors caution that low RoB quality and intervention heterogeneity likely inflate pooled effects—prioritize primary tables and comparator-specific forest plots before clinical decisions.