Abstract:
Objective: To investigate the efficacy of an 8-week aerobic exercise combined with Chan-Chuang intervention in patients with anxiety disorders, with a focus on its regulatory effect on frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), and to explore the underlying mechanisms from the perspectives of behavioral, cerebral, and autonomic nervous system. Methods: Fifty-seven patients with anxiety disorders were randomly assigned to either an aerobic exercise group, a combined aerobic and Chan-Chuang exercise group, or a control group. All participants underwent an emotional Stroop task, resting-state electroencephalogram, and heart rate variability measurements at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks after the intervention. Results: After intervention, both of the aerobic exercise group and the combined group showed significantly lower scores on the SAS and GAD-7 compared to the control group, with greater improvements at 8 weeks than at 4 weeks. Compared to the control group, the aerobic exercise and combined groups showed significantly higher SDNN, RMSSD, and HFnu, as well as significantly lower LFnu after 8 weeks of intervention. The emotional Stroop task reaction time was significantly shorter and the accuracy was significantly higher in the intervention groups at 8 weeks, with greater improvements than at 4 weeks. Electroencephalogram data revealed that all groups showed significantly higher alpha power in the left prefrontal region than in the right (F3-alpha>F4-alpha) at baseline, indicating dysfunctional prefrontal emotional lateralization in anxiety disorder patients. After 8 weeks of intervention, intervention groups exhibited a more balanced alpha power between F3 and F4 compared to the control group. Additionally, the intervention groups showed significantly higher prefrontal alpha power and significantly lower delta, theta, and beta power compared to the control group. Correlation analysis showed that, after 8 weeks of intervention, prefrontal alpha power was positively correlated with SDNN, RMSSD, HFnu, and emotional Stroop accuracy, and negatively correlated with SAS scores in the combined group. These correlations were weak in the aerobic exercise group and no significant difference was observed in the control group. Conclusion: Both of 8-week aerobic exercise and aerobic combined with Chan-Chuang interventions can alleviate anxiety symptoms in patients with anxiety disorders, effectively regulate prefrontal emotional lateralization function (correcting FAA imbalance), attention bias, and autonomic nervous function. Moreover, the aerobic combined with Chan-Chuang program demonstrates superior rehabilitation benefits.