Virtual training can reduce psychosocial stress, anxiety

Virtual training can reduce psychosocial stress, anxiety

Tokyo: Virtual training can reduce psychosocial stress and anxiety among many people. A new study reveals. Studies show that physical exercise benefits our overall health. But for some – such as neurological patients, people with heart disease and hospitalized patients – physical exercise is not possible, or even too dangerous.

However, similar effects can be brought about by using immersive virtual reality.

"While moderate amounts of exposure to stress can be beneficial, repeated and increased exposure can be detrimental to our health," said researcher Dalila Burin.

Although initially designed for entertainment, IVR has attracted interest from the academic community due to its potential use for clinical purposes, as it allows the user to experience a virtual world through a virtual body. Is.

In a previous study, the team found that viewing a moving virtual body displayed from a first-person perspective produces physiological changes. There was a steady increase/decrease in heart rate with virtual movement, even when young participants remained still.

As a result, there were intense cognitive and neural benefits, just like with actual physical activity.

In a follow-up study, the same benefits were found in healthy elderly subjects after 20-minute sessions twice a week for six weeks.

In the current study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers explore the effects of stress on stress, adding another level to the beneficial effects of virtual training.

Young healthy subjects, while seated, experienced a virtual training performed from a first-person perspective, creating the illusion of ownership of the Movement.

Avatar lasted 30 minutes at a speed of 6.4 km/h. Before and after virtual training, the researchers induced and assessed the psychosocial stress response by measuring salivary alpha-amylase. Similarly, they distributed a subjective questionnaire for anxiety.

Results showed a lower psychosocial stress response and lower levels of anxiety after virtual training than after actual exercise.