BODYBALANCE and Exam Stress

INTRODUCTION

Reducing anxiety can help with exam performance – previous research has shown that breathing techniques and relaxation training can help – but we weren’t sure if performing BODYBALANCE™ directly before an exam would be beneficial.

HYPOTHESIS

We hypothesized that a BODYBALANCE workout would decrease pre-test anxiety, with positive impact on psychological and physiological measures of stress.

METHOD

We split 13 nursing students into two groups – one group completed a live BODYBALANCE session focusing on sun salutations and standing strength poses directly before a mock exam. The other students were asked to spend the time reading their notes, as per a typical pre-exam cramming session. The following week, the same students did the same thing but flipped groups. So the group that had done the pre-exam cramming session in week one, now did the BODYBALANCE session before the exam. The group that had done the BODYBALANCE session in week one, did the typical cramming before the exam.

RESULTS

When the nursing students did BODYBALANCE before their exam, they significantly reduced their anxiety levels. However, that reduction in anxiety didn’t happen when they spent the same amount of time reading their notes before the exam.

CONCLUSION

An acute bout of BODYBALANCE prior to a simulated exam had a positive impact on subjective measures of stress including anxiety and mood compared to participants in the control condition.

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