Tension Releasing Exercises Reduce Perceived Stress in College Students

Tension Releasing Exercises (TRE) activate natural muscular vibration to release tension and activate the parasympathetic relaxation response (Berceli, 2013). The purpose of this study was to determine if TRE affected perceived stress in college students. Participants were recruited from Fort Lewis College. Stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Measure of Current Status Part A (MOCS), administered at the beginning and end of 5 weeks. There were 9 participants recruited to the experimental group but 4 did not continue after the initial session. The experimental group was taught TRE and asked to independently perform the exercises 3 times per week for 15-20 minutes each session. The experimental group (n=5) self-reported performing the TRE an average of 3 times and 65.5 minutes per week for 5 weeks. The control group (n=30) was asked not to begin any new stress management techniques during the 5 week period. The experimental group significantly improved their average PSS scores from pre to post (21 to 8.8) on the dependent t test (p=.002). This improvement (-12.2) was significantly better than the control group (+3.5) on the independent t test (p=000011) and Mann Whitney U test (p=0.000481). The experimental group significantly improved their average MOCS scores from pre to post (22.2 to 36.6) on the dependent t test (p=.018). This improvement (+14.4) was significantly better than the control group (+2) on the independent t test (p=.002) and Mann Whitney U test (p=.025). The TRE were effective in reducing stress in college students, supporting Berceli’s previous research (2009), however, the results of the present study must be viewed with caution because of the small sample size