A new study shows that yoga and breathing exercises help children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) improve their attention and engage in complex activities longer.
- Breathing exercises and the practice of yoga would help children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to concentrate better.
- According to the study authors, this is because these exercises have an immediate and long-term effect on the supply of oxygen to the brain.
Most remembered to manifest around the age of seven or early in school, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder associated with impaired development of the nervous system in children. Complex and often difficult to discern, it is characterized by great difficulty concentrating, excessive activity and impulsive behavior. It is often attributed to abnormalities in brain function, particularly in the reticular formation, the part of the brain responsible for regulating brain activity.
This leads children with ADHD to know “often states of inadequate hyperactivity, increased distraction and exhaustion”describes Sergey Kiselev, head of the brain and neurocognitive development laboratory at the Ural Federal University (UrFU), in Russia.
In a study published in the journal Biological Psychiatrythe researcher however discovered the benefits of yoga and sophrology on children suffering from this disorder. “We used a special breathing exercise based on the development of rhythmic deep breathing by the diaphragm – belly breathing. Such breathing helps to better supply the brain with oxygen and helps the reticular formation to better assume its role. When the formation reticularis gets enough oxygen, it begins to better regulate the child’s activity state”he explains.
Better brain oxygen supply
To reach this conclusion, the researchers studied the effect of exercise on functions associated with regulation and voluntary control in 16 children with ADHD aged six and seven years.
In addition to the breathing exercises described above, psychologists have used body techniques, in particular exercises with “tension-relaxation” polar states. Training took place three times a week for two to three months.
“Exercise has an immediate effect, but there is also a delayed effect. We found that exercise has a positive effect on regulatory and control functions in children with ADHD and one year after the end of exercise. This happens because the correct breathing of the child is automated, it becomes a kind of assistant that allows a better supply of oxygen to the brain, which, in turn, has a beneficial effect on the behavior and psyche of the child with ADHD”explains Sergey Kiselev.
This pilot study showed that yoga and breathing exercises do have a positive effect on hyperactive children. However, more work needs to be done, involving a larger number of children with ADHD, say the researchers. This will also take into account factors such as gender, age, disease severity, as well as concurrent problems in children (language, regulation, etc.).
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