By Dr. Liji Thomas, MD Reviewed by Lauren Hardaker Feb 11 2026 A new randomized trial shows that short bursts of supervised high-intensity exercise may retrain the brain’s fear response to bodily sensations, offering a scalable and engaging new therapeutic pathway for people with panic disorder. Study: Brief intermittent intense exercise as interoceptive exposure for panic disorder: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Image credit: Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock.com Interoceptive exposure ( IE )