Their Own Iron Dome: How Israeli Nurses Stay Resilient in Wartime

The study, conducted by Prof. Merav Ben Natan, Director of the Academic Nursing School at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center and lecturer at Tel Aviv University, and Ms. Keren Hurvitz, Human Resources Department Director at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, was recently accepted for publication in the international journal, Workplace Health & Safety and is among the first studies in Israel to examine the relationship between yoga and the psychological resilience of nurses during wartime in real time. 

Unlike short, time-limited crises, the war with Iran presented nursing staff with a complex and prolonged reality: the need to work long hours under heavy workloads, the challenge of staff shortages, and at the same time, concern for family members, parents and children, living under ongoing threat. • "Nursing staff are not only caring for others," said Prof. Ben Natan. "While at work, they experience the same fears and concerns as all Israeli citizens. It was therefore important for us to understand what factors might help sustain psychological resilience during the most difficult of times. Practicing yoga goes beyond physical activity. It also encompasses built-in psychological dimensions." 

The study included 105 nurses from hospitals across Israel, who completed questionnaires designed to assess psychological resilience and stress responses, alongside questionnaires that examined the characteristics of their yoga practice, duration of practice, and the emotional benefits they derived from it. Participants came from delivery rooms, intensive care units, maternity departments, mental health units and other departments, and had between 10 and 12 years of experience in the given department. Among those who practiced yoga regularly, the average was one to two sessions per week over a period of more than two and a half to approximately five years. 

The findings were clear: nurses who practiced yoga regularly as part of daily routine demonstrated higher resilience levels and lower stress responses than those who did not practice at all. The most interesting finding, however, was that simply going to a yoga class was not what made the difference. Rather, it was sustained, self-initiated yoga practice over years along with the perception that yoga provides calm, meaning and emotional balance that proved to be the most significant factors in strengthening psychological resilience. It was also found that among more experienced nurses who had incorporated yoga practice over many years, stress levels were the lowest of all. 

Prof. Merav Ben Natan (left) and Keren Hurvitz

"We found that yoga provides genuine long-term emotional value and creates higher levels of resilience," said Prof. Ben Natan. "In other words, yoga is not merely a form of physical activity, but is a tool for emotional regulation, stress management and maintenance of long-term psychological stability." 

According to Keren Hurvitz, one of the key lessons of the study is that resilience is not built overnight, "Yoga isn’t a one-off event, and it’s not a magic solution. It’s a habit that is integrated over time. The more the practice becomes an integral part of daily life, and the more a person believes it helps them cope with everyday challenges, the greater its contribution to psychological resilience." 

Keren Hurvitz and Prof. Ben Natan emphasize that the resilience of nursing staff has implications that go far beyond the personal wellbeing of employees. "A staff member who is better able to manage stress and burnout is capable of providing higher-quality care, making better decisions and remaining in the profession over the long term. Study participants noted that practicing yoga had become a kind of 'Iron Dome for the mind,' enabling them to continue caring for others even when the world around them is in turmoil." 

"Investing in staff resilience is, in effect, investing in the healthcare system as a whole," the two stated. "The study's findings," they claim, "highlight the need to develop organizational programs that support healthcare workers in adopting tools to strengthen psychological resilience, while encouraging sustained personal practice outside the workplace as well."