This type of exercise could be a low-cost therapy for panic attacks

The study, published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, looked into exercise as a form of exposure therapy for people who experience frequent and unexpected panic attacks.

Author of the article:

Washington Post

Beth Krietsch

Published May 28, 2026  •  Last updated 19 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Photo by Adobe Stock

If you get panic attacks, it’s important to have tools – whether therapy techniques, such as breathing exercises, or medication – you can use to help prevent one from striking or feel better quicker when one does. A new study suggests that brief bursts of intense exercise – specifically, sprinting – may be a management strategy worth adding to your list.

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The study, published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, looked into exercise as a form of exposure therapy for people who experience frequent and unexpected panic attacks.

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The researchers found that deliberately triggering some of the physical sensations of panic – a racing heart, shortness of breath, sweating – via sprinting was more effective than relaxation therapy in reducing the severity and frequency of panic attacks.

“Intense exercise allowed patients to experience intense bodily sensations in a safe and controlled context, helping them reinterpret these signals as non-dangerous,” said Ricardo William Muotri, a postdoctoral fellow at the Anxiety Disorders Program of the University of São Paulo Medical School and the lead author of the study.

The results were lasting, he added, with people continuing to experience fewer panic attacks and reduced symptoms even 12 weeks after the exercise sessions.

This is not the first study to link exercise with improved mood.

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“These findings fit well within a broader literature showing that aerobic exercise can reduce anxiety and improve mood across a range of conditions,” said Jasper Smits, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin who was not involved in the study but conducts research on anxiety interventions, including exercise.

A 2026 review of studies published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that exercise reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. For depression, there’s a wide range of research, with some findings suggesting that exercise may be as effective as antidepressant medications.

Along with reducing anxiety symptoms, exercise – particularly high-intensity varieties – may reduce anxiety sensitivity, or the discomfort people experience in response to the physical sensations that anxiety produces, said Kristin Szuhany, a clinical psychologist at NYU Langone whose research specializes in leveraging exercise to improve mental health.

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In the Frontiers in Psychiatry study, 72 adults with panic disorder were randomly separated into two groups. For 12 weeks, 37 people followed an exercise program and the other 35 engaged in a form of relaxation therapy. Both groups did their therapy at set times – not at the onset of a panic attack.

Three times a week, the exercise group did 30-second sprints interspersed with walking recovery breaks, plus 15 minutes of walking to warm up and cool down. They started with one sprint interval and increased every other week, working their way up to six sprints by the end of the study. The people in the other group did a form of relaxation therapy commonly used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that involves deep breathing, and systematically tensing and relaxing muscle groups throughout the body.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the two therapies, the researchers used a tool called the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale (PAS), which helps measure the severity of panic disorder. They checked this at the start of the study and again at six weeks, at 12 weeks when the study finished and at 24 weeks as a follow-up.

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Both groups saw improvements, but the people who did the intense, intermittent exercise program experienced fewer and less severe panic attacks. They also had fewer symptoms of depression.

Experts have some theories on why aerobic exercise is effective for mitigating panic. One is that vigorous exercise functions as a form of interoceptive exposure – exposure therapy that intentionally elicits physical sensations that people with panic disorder often fear, but in a safe and controlled setting. This is important because fear of bodily sensations is one of the core characteristics of panic disorder, Smits explained.

“Exercise may work in part because it helps people relearn that the physical sensations of anxiety may be uncomfortable but, importantly, not dangerous,” Smits said. “Exercise may also reduce anxiety through broader effects on mood, reduced stress reactivity, sleep, inflammation, and neurotransmitter systems linked to anxiety and depression.”

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Additionally, exercise is a low-cost tool that can be integrated into panic disorder treatment programs and supervised by a range of health care professionals, not just psychologists trained in CBT, Muotri said.

That could help more people get the treatment they need.

“Many people with panic disorder do not access evidence-based care due to barriers such as cost, stigma, limited availability or personal treatment preferences,” Smits said. “Exercise may offer a more accessible and acceptable stand-alone or adjunctive option for some individuals, while also providing broad physical health benefits.”

Still, the study has some limitations: a small sample size, fairly short duration and the fact that subjects were sedentary adults could limit its generalizability to broader populations, Muotri and Smits both noted.

Exercise can be a powerful tool for supporting your mental health, though it’s not a cure-all or substitute for professional care if you’re experiencing significant symptoms. Often, a combination of treatments is helpful.

Here are some tips for giving it a try.

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