Practicing mindfulness is to focus one’s attention on the present, without being distracted by any external or internal happenings. Doing so is beneficial for students, as it keeps them concentrated on the task at hand – completing their homework, listening to the lecture or following a group discussion.
To further examine the benefits of mindfulness, MIT carried out two new researches. The first study involved about 100 six-graders. Half of these participants underwent eight weeks of daily mindfulness training which taught them to concentrate on their breathing and focus on the present, while the others attended coding classes.
At the end of the study, students who received mindfulness training had reduced stress levels and negative emotions relative to students in the coding group. Additionally, the students in the mindfulness training group showed lesser activity in the amygdala to negative stimulus after the training compared to when they did not practice mindfulness at all. This shows that students’ moods can benefit from mindfulness training, which might be able to help reduce the intensity of mood disorders.
In the second study, students in grade 5 to 8 were asked to complete a questionnaire based on the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale so as to evaluate the mindfulness of participants. When comparing academic performance and conduct, it was found that students who practiced more mindfulness did better for their studies and were less likely to be suspended or absent.
Generally, the two studies showed that mindfulness is beneficial for the mental health and academic success of students. Therefore, integrating mindfulness training into the school curriculum can be rather advantageous for youths.
Category(s):Child Development, Mindfulness
Source material from Science Daily