Filtering by
- All Subjects: Anxiety
- All Subjects: Yoga
- Creators: Hoffner, Kristin
Anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States. In this project, I chose to explore how food is one of the most accessible and inexpensive ways of treating anxiety. This creative project examines the major key components of gut health including the balance of neurotransmitters and bacteria in the gut, restoring hydrochloric acid through celery juice, removing heavy metal toxins through food, eating fermented foods, and limiting refined carbohydrates, and high-sugar consumption. Additionally, this creative project explores my own personal journey through the implementation of foods that influence anxiety revealed in a systemic review over the course of a 6-week period.
Exercise has emerged as an effective way to treat anxiety and depression. This project first examines the early research on this topic so we can provide a historical context for the thesis. We then look into the contemporary context, where we can see how the topic is being talked about in modern forms of media. Finally, we apply the research to college students. At the end of the paper, you will find a brochure we made specifically for the college student struggling with anxiety or depression.
Methods: 9 female college students (age 18-24) were assigned to two yoga sessions, Vinyasa Flow and Meditative yoga. Each participant attended one session of each type of yoga, where their cardiovascular responses were measured both pre and post yoga session. Heart rate, Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), and blood pressure were all measured.
Results: Meditative yoga showed a significant difference in the acute response of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and RPE. Vinyasa Flow yoga showed a significant difference the acute response of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and RPE. Heart rate was significantly different when comparing measurements before each yoga session. Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and RPE were all significantly different when comparing acute measurements after each respective session. Significance was set to p < 0.05.
Conclusions: Overall, the hypothesis was supported that there was a difference in cardiovascular measurements. Meditative yoga was better at significantly decreasing blood pressure acutely, whereas Vinyasa Flow yoga increased blood pressure acutely. This suggests that Meditative yoga could be suggested over Vinyasa Flow yoga for certain individuals with hypertension. Differences between the yoga practices were found and the cardiovascular effects of different yoga practices can be better understood due to this research.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether athletes were impacted by wearing a mask and playing competitively, by measuring their mental skills (confidence, anxiety, and focus) levels. This study surveyed 7 high school students who played sports in the year 2020-2021. They were surveyed using the “state sport confidence inventory”, “sport competition anxiety test”, and a created focus survey (Appendix D). The participants were asked a series of questions reflecting back on before wearing a mask and questions pertaining to how they feel about wearing a mask in sports. The survey asked the participants specifically about their mental skills. These mental skills are important factors in optimal performance of an athlete, athletes should have high confidence, low anxiety, and high focus levels (Lautenbach et al., 2016). The results showed that athletes had high confidence, low anxiety, and high focus; athletes were more worried about getting the proper amount of oxygen and fixing their mask. This suggests that the athletes who participated in the survey were mentally tough (Bédard Thom et al., 2021) and resilient (Sarkar & Fletcher, 2014).