Background: It is known that children with hyperactive-impulsive disorder have deficit in executive abilities. The gaol of this study was to reveal effect of yoga exercises on executive abilities in 7-8 years of age children with hyperactive-impulsive disorder. We compared the efficacy of two methods of treatment (yoga exercises vs. conventional motor exercises) in a randomized controlled pilot study.

Methods: 16 children with hyperactive-impulsive disorder at the age of 7-8 years were included and randomly assigned to treatment conditions according to a 2×2 crossover design. Children from intervention group participated in 12 weeks of yoga exercises.

To assess the executive functions we used 3 subtests from NEPSY (Auditory Attention and Response Set, Visual Attention, Statue). Effects of treatment were analyzed by means of an ANOVA for repeated measurements.

Results: The ANOVA has revealed (p<.05) that for all used subtests (Auditory Attention and Response Set, Visual Attention, Statue) the yoga exercises were superior to the conventional motor training, with effect sizes in the medium-to-high range (0.44-0.86).

Conclusions: The findings from this pilot study suggest that yoga exercises have positive effect on executive abilities in children with hyperactive-impulsive disorder. It influences predominantly the selective and sustained attention, inhibition, monitoring, and self-regulation. However, it is necessary to do further research into the impact of yoga exercises on the prevention and treatment of hyperactive-impulsive disorder in children.