Effect of Pranayama & Yoga-Asana on Cognitive Brain Functions in Type 2 Diabetes-P3 Event Related Evoked Potential (Erp) (Report‪)‬

Diabetes mellitus (DM) are a group of metabolic disorders that share the common phenotype of hyperglycemia, polydipsia, polyuria and polyphagia. Although peripheral and autonomic neuropathy is a common complication of DM, the central nervous system (CNS) does not seem to be spared either. In the past few years, CNS involvement in DM has received a special attention, particularly the higher brain functions. The metabolic dysregulation influencing cerebral blood flow, metabolism and alteration in higher functions in diabetic patients has been reported and demonstrated at neurochemical, electrophysiological , structural and neurobehavioural levels (1,2). Recently, there has been an increasing trend in the use of Evoked potentials, an electrophysiological tool to study the functional integrity of the neural substrate and the involvement of CNS in Diabetes. Evoked potentials are changes in electrical potential (voltage) recorded from the brain during a brief period of time (epoch) after presentation of evoking stimulus. Among these potentials, event related potentials (ERP) indicates cognitive functions of the brain. P300 (or P3) wave of this ERP has been identified as a late cortical neurophysiological event reflecting the activity of cognitive and mnemonic functions in humans (3), information processing (4) and appears to be strongly associated with attention and short term memory (3). Many authors have documented an electrophysiological evidence of delayed cognition in diabetes (5-7). Yoga, a vedic science has shown improvement of oxidative stress as well as glycaemic status of diabetics through neuroendocrinal mechanism (8,9). An attempt is made through this study to see if yogic intervention for a duration of 45 days brings about any improvement in the cognition in Type 2 diabetes using the electrophysiological test, Evoked Potential as an assessment tool.