ISSN: 2577-4360
Authors: Sai Sailesh Kumar Goothy*, Archana R and Mukkadan JK
Introduction: Vestibular stimulation facilitates thalamo-cortical-synchronization, decreases latency of sleep and increases duration of deep sleep stages. Vestibular stimulation regulates eating behavior through its connections with hypothalamus, dorsal raphe nucleus, nucleus tractussolitarius, locus-coeruleus and hippocampal formation. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of vestibular stimulation on behavioral parameters in young adults. Materials and methods: 240 (120 males and 120 females) participants satisfying both inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in the study.Vestibular stimulation was given by making the participants swing on a swing, according to their comfort. This was a longitudinal follow-up study in which, participants were assessed three times. Results: There was significant improvement in sleep quality followed by vestibular stimulation in both male and female participants. Day time sleepiness and susceptibility to eating disorders was significantly reduced followed by vestibular stimulation in both male and female participants. Conclusion: Vestibular stimulation may be considered as an adjunctive therapy for stress management. Further, the study could be taken up to learn the effect of vestibular stimulation in different age groups and further awaits to explore the research based evidence in learning the molecular pathways linking vestibular stimulation and its potential in stress management.
Keywords: Vestibular stimulation; Swing; Eating behavior; Sleep; Stress
