HEALTHY NEWS
It only makes sense that balance is affected by anxiety, right? But can balance improvement affect anxiety level? Researchers now think so!
“If you’ve had anxiety problems for long enough you may have experienced balance problems. You may have felt like the ground was moving, or like you were going to literally fall down. This phenomenon is in fact a common symptom related to anxiety disorders. Researchers now believe that if anxiety sufferers improve their balance through physical exercises they may be able to reduce their level of anxiety.
Researchers from Tel Aviv University have discovered a link between anxiety and balance problems by studying children with General Anxiety Disorder. During the research study children with GAD and children without GAD (control group) were asked to perform several balance exercises. These exercises revealed that most children with GAD had a difficult time performing the various balancing activities.
In addition, after a 12 week course of “sensory motor intervention” the children with GAD showed a noticeable improvement in their levels of anxiety. The intervention is mainly based on physical therapy exercises aimed at strengthening balance.
Although it’s unclear if anxiety causes balance issues or vice versa what is clear to researchers is that treating the mind through physical movement is possible.
This led me on a search for balance exercises that might fit the mold. There are exercises designed specifically to improve balance, such as plantar, knee, hip flexion exercises, and side leg raises. There are several other types of exercises, such as these, that could also help improve balance.
The take home message is that correcting balance problems could have a positive impact on your anxiety. Although the research study did not include adults (wish it had) we could infer a similar effect on adults.”
http://www.anxietyguru.net/improving-your-balance-may-help-you-reduce-your-anxiety/
And more on the same study:
Treating the Mind Through the Body
“You can’t treat children with anxiety in a cognitive way because of their immaturity and lack of operational thinking. Working with the body may be the answer,” Dr. Bart explains. The treatment therefore focused on letting the children use equipment to experience their environment and move in space. Dr. Bart found that by working with their bodies, children could work through their emotional problems, including anxiety. Dr. Bart is now working on expanding the initial results through a larger study with more control groups. The goal is to explore the exact nature of the relationship between balance and anxiety in children, and to focus the results on more specific treatment types.
“Young children who have anxiety should first be assessed for balance issues to see if that is the source of the problem,” says Dr. Bart. “We can now treat these children because we have a better understanding of the relation between these disorders.”
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090122141226.htm
