5 Reasons Students should take up meditation and mindfulness
If you’re going back to school, you should consider packing mindfulness along with your laptop and books.
The positive effects of meditation and mindfulness cannot be ignored – It seems like there’s a new study coming out daily explaining the benefits of mindfulness. One group that doesn’t get enough attention in conversations about mindfulness is students.
Getting an education is a proven way to improve your standard of living and increase your opportunities. Whether you’ve already enrolled or something is holding you back from going to school, consider taking up mindfulness and meditation. It’ll give you the push to get you back in the classroom and rolling in the A’s.
1.) Stress Relief
Student life is stressful. Between paying tuition, getting to class, managing the workloads of multiple courses, and memorizing countless facts, it’s easy to panic. Georgetown University tested stress management by inviting participants to undergo a stress test, take an eight-week mindfulness meditation course then go through a second, similar stress test. Afterward, the participants showed reduced stress hormones and reported feeling less stress during the second test.
2.) Improved Creativity
Thanks to a 2016 study, we know that mindfulness increases creativity. “Mindfulness improves people’s functioning in many areas,” the study’s abstract notes, “but its relationship with creativity is equivocal.” Mediation and practicing mindfulness can actually increase “divergent thinking” – the ability to come up with many new ideas, a key part of creative thinking. Whether you need a topic for that upcoming paper or you’re brainstorming for your marketing course, creativity is important.
3.) Increased Focus
Being able to focus is an important skill for students. Without focus, it’s very difficult to work on a paper, study for a final, or prepare to sit in a three hour lecture One study found that “meditators … demonstrate superior performance on tests of self-regulation, resisting distractions and making correct answers more often than non-meditators.” There are so many projects a student has to complete in a given semester. There are also a lot of distractions. Students who meditate can self-regulate better and see assignments through.
4.) Better Retention
Remembering what you’re studying is crucial to succeeding in school. A 2013 study found that “meditation improved students’ retention of the information conveyed during the lecture.” Everyone is bombarded with information so it’s difficult for students to recall important information from lectures. Meditation can help with that.
5.) Reduction in Depression
An estimated one third of university students suffer from depression. It’s hard to succeed academically when depression is holding you back. Meditation may be the key to fighting back. JAMA Internal Medicine analyzed 47 studies and found that meditation helps individuals manage anxiety and depression. In fact, an average of 20 minutes of meditation per day yielded consistent results in combating and managing depression.
Whether it’s helping you cope with the stress of the workload, it’s helping you come up with new ideas for papers, or it’s helping you set your focus and finish that term project, if you’re a student you ought to consider living mindfully and taking up meditation.
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