30-Second Sprints: A New Way to Tame Panic Attacks |
Feeling your heart race, sudden shortness of breath, and uncontrollable sweating are hallmark features of a panic attack. By using high-intensity vigorous activity to recreate these panic-like sensations, patients learn through experience that these bodily cues may feel uncomfortable but aren't always dangerous.
A new randomized controlled clinical trial published in Frontiers in Psychiatry (Muotri et al., 2026) suggests that brief intermittent intense exercise (BIE)—a close "cousin" to high-intensity interval training (HIIT)—can significantly reduce the severity of panic disorder (PD).
Over 12 weeks, repeated exposure to BIE in the form of 30-second sprints helped people with panic disorder respond more calmly to their nervous system's hyperactive alarm signals.
For many people with panic disorder, the core problem isn't fear itself, but the "fear of fear." Interoceptive exposure (IE) is a cognitive-behavioral therapy technique designed to break this cycle by repeatedly exposing........