Are you scared of spiders? Time to hit the treadmill
U of R student doing research to see if aerobic exercise can aid arachnophobia
If the sight of an itsy-bitsy spider sends you racing out of a room in a panic, University of Regina researchers are trying to determine if that sprint might be part of the cure.
Chloe Rudichuk doesn’t scurry for cover when she sees spiders, but she is leery of the eight-legged creepy crawlers and has a great deal of empathy for those who are truly terrified.
Working under the supervision of Dr. Gord Asmundson at the university’s Anxiety and Illness Behaviours Laboratory, Rudichuk, an undergraduate student in the honours psychology program, is trying to determine if aerobic exercise can improve the outcome of spider phobia treatment.
“Spider phobia falls under the overarching category of anxiety disorders,” Rudichuk said. “A lot of the research that has been going on in our lab has to do with aerobic exercise and its possible benefits to anxiety disorders.”
Often, individuals with anxiety disorders experience increased heart rates, breathe harder and sweat more, she said.
“Those physiological responses can generate more anxiety because they are interpreted in a more catastrophic way,” she said. “The individual might think, ‘My heart is beating really fast, I’m sweating — I must have a reason to be really scared.’ ”
Rudichuk is looking for people between 18 and 65 with a significant fear of spiders and access to a computer and the Internet to take part in a study.
The level of participants’ fear is assessed through an online questionnaire, which takes about 30 minutes to complete and asks questions such as: if you found a spider, would you ask someone to remove it?
Additionally, participants must be able to safely participate in physical activity at the lab, located in the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport at the U of R.
Those eligible will receive either a 60-minute session of aerobic exercise guided by a personal trainer or 30 minutes of stretching exercises guided by a personal trainer.
“As soon as they’re done that exercise session, they’ll engage in a brief treatment session using images of spiders and a spider documentary,” Rudichuk said. “That session is a little less than an hour long and then we have them fill out one final questionnaire.”
She wants to find out if exposing people to physiological symptoms, such as increased heart rate, breathing and sweating brought on by aerobic exercise, will ease their distress over time.
“When they’re in that threatening situation, levels of anxiety may be reduced by knowing that it’s just the body helping you out,” Rudichuk said.
Showing pictures of spiders to participants might help them become more comfortable with the feared stimulus.
She estimates the exercise and brief treatment sessions will take about 21/2 hours. At no time will participants be exposed to live spiders.
“This is a session that’s designed to help them overcome their fear and it’s set up in a way that allows them to become increasingly comfortable with the spiders,” Rudichuk said.
“We work with participants to ensure that they’re feeling comfortable throughout.”
For more information, email her at rudichuc@uregina.ca or call the lab at 306-337-2473.