Concentration exercises help against ADHD

Tübingen (dpa) - Scientists from Tübingen have shown that hyperactive children are better able to keep their fidgety legs still through concentration exercises.

When children learn to specifically activate certain brain regions ...

When children learn to specifically activate certain brain regions, they can thus regulate their symptoms. That's what Ute Strehl from the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology said on Thursday. Together with researchers from Nijmegen in the Netherlands, the Tübingen researchers have analysed and compiled 15 published studies on the topic. Accordingly the ADHS symptoms impulsivity and inattentiveness can be reduced significantly by concentration exercises, with the hyperactivity there were nevertheless mediocre successes.

At the same time, a study involving 150 children is being started in Tübingen in which the so-called neurofeedback in ADHD patients will be investigated in detail for the first time. The researchers hope to find out how they can teach the small patients to activate the brain regions responsible for hyperactivity in a more targeted way.

The attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common mental disorder in children and adolescents. Psychologists now assume that symptoms such as lack of concentration and impulsiveness are triggered by underexcitation of certain brain regions, Strehl said. With so-called biofeedback, the children are supposed to compensate for this underexcitation.

Source: www.focus.de, 16.7.2009

Nach oben