What is the Most Helpful Body‐Scan Posture for People with Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Tendency?

Summary & key facts

Researchers made two short questionnaires to measure whether different body positions help or hinder people with attention‑deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tendencies during a body‑scan mindfulness exercise. They tested the questions with university students in three small studies. The tests suggested that people with a mainly hyperactive or impulsive tendency found a slumped sitting posture harder and a lying‑on‑the‑back posture easier for the body scan, while the upright posture had mixed effects. The researchers warn the new questionnaires were built from beginners' impressions and should not be treated as strict rules for how people must feel.

Key facts:

• The team first asked 21 people about typical good and bad reactions during mindfulness and used those answers to build draft questionnaire items.
• They then had 192 people complete existing mindfulness measures and the draft questionnaires after a mindful breathing exercise to refine and check the new scales.
• In a small follow‑up, 19 people were split into four groups (combined ADHD tendency, mainly hyperactive/impulsive, mainly inattentive, and no ADHD tendency) to try four postures: upright sitting, slumped sitting, leaning‑back sitting, and lying on the back.
• People with a mainly hyperactive or impulsive tendency reported the slumped sitting posture made the body scan harder to do.
• Those same people generally found the lying‑on‑the‑back (supine) posture easier for the body scan.
• Feeling sleepy was moderately linked to the questionnaire score that measures encouraging reactions in both the supine and upright postures, with a correlation around 0.5.
• The researchers say the new scales were created from intuitive impressions for beginners, so the items are not meant to be strict goals or things to be avoided by everyone.

Abstract

Abstract We explored body‐scan postures suitable for people with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tendency by developing and validating the Mindfulness Encouraging/Discouraging Reactions Scales (MERS/MDRS), using university students. In Study 1, we conducted a survey to collect typical positive and negative reactions during mindfulness exercises from 21 participants and created the preliminary items. In Study 2, 192 participants completed existing state/trait mindfulness scales and the preliminary MERS and MDRS after mindful breathing. Based on an item response model, we developed and validated MERS and MDRS. In Study 3, 19 participants were categorized into one of four groups: (a) combined, (b) hyperactive/impulsive, (c) inattentive, and (d) without ADHD tendencies. They performed body‐scan meditations with each of the counterbalanced postures (upright, slumped, leaning‐back sitting, and supine), and completed the questionnaires. The analysis showed that those with hyperactivity/impulsivity tendency found the body‐scan meditation a challenge with the slumped posture and easier to perform in the supine posture; the upright posture provided high and low MERS to the hyperactivity/impulsivity tendency group and combined group, respectively; and sleepiness correlated with MERS in the supine posture ( r = .49) and the upright posture ( r = .51). We identified helpful body scan postures for people with ADHD tendency, using MERS and MDRS, but it was noted that these scales were created solely based on intuitive impressions for beginners, and it is not recommended that the items included in them be aimed for or avoided.

Topics

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions Sleep and related disorders

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Attention deficit Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Body position Body posture Clinical psychology Impulsivity Internal medicine Medicine Meditation Mindfulness Pathology Philosophy Physical medicine and rehabilitation Psychology Sitting Supine position Theology

Conditions & symptoms

ADHD Difficulty focusing Poor sleep