Effects of Brain Gym Exercises on Attention and Anxiety in Adolescents – An Experimental Study

Background: The common psychological difficulties in adolescents are anxiety states or minor depression and apart from that the attention span in adolescents is also shrinking as reported. The Brain Gym exercise is said to release learning blocks and cause improvement in areas such as memory, concentration, and focus. The goal of this study is to improve anxiety and attention in adolescents by performing brain gym exercises. Aim: To study the effects of brain gym exercise on attention and anxiety in adolescents. Methodology: The study employed an experimental study including 134 students within a 15-19 years age group, selected through purposive sampling. The primary outcomes are the Hamilton anxiety rating scale and the mindful attention awareness scale. Brain gym exercise was performed thrice a week for four weeks. Results: A statistically significant improvement in anxiety and attention is observed with using brain gym exercise. The pretest mean anxiety score at week 1 was 18.46 and after four weeks the results showed a statistically significant decrease in anxiety with a mean score of 16.14. The pretest attention score in week 1 was 3.67 and the post-intervention score in week 4 was 3.98 showing a statistically significant increase in attention. The data was statistically significant with a p-value of <0.05. Conclusion: The study concludes there’s a significant effect of brain gym exercises in improving attention and anxiety. KEYWORDS: Brain Gym Exercise, Anxiety, Attention, Adolescents, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale.