Publicação
The influence of a 12-week yoga program on military aviation pilots' decision-making capacity for operational effectiveness
| datacite.subject.sdg | 03:Saúde de Qualidade | |
| datacite.subject.sdg | 04:Educação de Qualidade | |
| datacite.subject.sdg | 08:Trabalho Digno e Crescimento Económico | |
| dc.contributor.author | Santos, Sara | |
| dc.contributor.author | Fernandes, Orlando | |
| dc.contributor.author | Cabo, Carolina A. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Parraca, José A. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Melo, Filipe | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-03-09T09:44:09Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-03-09T09:44:09Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-12 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Military aviation demands cognitive performance, emotional stability, and resilience under pressure. Portuguese Airforce pilots face additional challenges: maintaining fitness and readiness independently, without structured exercise regimens. Yoga’s capacity to enhance mindfulness makes it a promising intervention. Despite potential benefits, research on yoga’s impact in military aviation remains limited. This study investigates incorporation of yoga into the training regimen of Portuguese Airforce to verify decision-making effectiveness and performance. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 18 Portuguese Air Force pilots: Control Group (n = 8) followed standard military training, and Intervention Group (n = 10) received aditional yoga training twice a week, for 12 weeks. Assessments included Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), Aviation Safety Attitude Scale (ASAS), Risk Perception To Self (RPTS), Trail Making Test (TMT) and aviation simulator performance. Data analysis used Jamovi v2.6.13. The yoga group showed significant improvements in mindfulness (FFMQ), interoceptive awareness (MAIA), self-confidence and safety attitudes (ASAS), cognitive flexibility (TMT-B), and simulator performance (fewer flight errors). Enhancements in attention regulation, body awareness, and emotional self-regulation reflect greater readiness for stress management. Improvements in decision-making, calculated risk-taking, and operational safety suggest yoga’s potential to reinforce psychophysiological resilience in high-demand environments. Yoga contributes meaningfully to enhanced performance and safety in high-pressure aviation environments. These findings may inform policy-level decisions toward integrating mandatory mind-body training programs that are cost-effective and time-efficient. The benefits observed may be applicable to Air Force teams globally, as well as commercial aviation, civil aviation, and other high-stress, high-performance domains, including elite sports. Clinical Trial Registry number and website where it was obtained: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT05821270. | eng |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.1016/j.jatrs.2025.100075 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2941-198X | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/28374 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.peerreviewed | yes | |
| dc.publisher | Elsevier | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | Journal of the Air Transport Research Society | |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
| dc.subject | Military aviation | |
| dc.subject | Ashtanga vinyasa yoga | |
| dc.subject | Decision-making | |
| dc.subject | Stress management | |
| dc.subject | Cognitive performance | |
| dc.subject | Operational effectiveness | |
| dc.subject | Risk perception | |
| dc.title | The influence of a 12-week yoga program on military aviation pilots' decision-making capacity for operational effectiveness | eng |
| dc.type | journal article | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| oaire.citation.startPage | 1000075 | |
| oaire.citation.title | Journal of the Air Transport Research Society | |
| oaire.citation.volume | 5 | |
| oaire.version | http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85 | |
| person.familyName | Santos | |
| person.givenName | Sara | |
| person.identifier.orcid | 0000-0002-7995-0804 | |
| relation.isAuthorOfPublication | 7217358d-0376-4a8b-b63b-70acec1ff865 | |
| relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery | 7217358d-0376-4a8b-b63b-70acec1ff865 |