Your Student Life: Mindfulness and Mental Health

July 9, 2024

Mindfulness meditation can have many mental health benefits.

For example, a review of 13 studies showed improvement in ADHD symptoms with mindfulness meditation (1).

41 trials show mindfulness meditation helped improve stress related outcomes such as anxiety, depression, stress, positive mood, etc. (2)

There are other studies showing benefits of mindfulness and meditation for mental health (3)

A recent study looked at the potential benefits on university students of engaging in just 5 minutes of mindfulness meditation at the beginning of a class (4).

What was the study design?

·         133 Students engaged in five minutes of mindfulness meditation at the beginning of class up to three days per week (4).

·         13 faculty members teaching 19 different courses were trained to follow the mindfulness protocol and shared their course rosters with the researchers; they were also provided with support throughout the study (4).

·         Class sizes ranged from seven to 430 students (4).

·         Pre- and post-test survey responses were collected from students taking courses from faculty who were trained to facilitate brief classroom-based mindfulness activities (4).

What were the results?

·         Due to the program, students reported a decrease in stress and improvement in well-being as measured by Perceived Stress Scale and WHO-5 Well being scale, respectively (4).

·         34% of students recounted the utility of mindfulness programming as most relevant in times of stress both inside and beyond class, and as useful when trying to “not become overwhelmed” and for recognizing when they needed “to take a minute to breathe.” (4)

·         47% of students reported improved stress management outside of class (4).

What are some caveats?

·         This is a small study at one university and further study is needed to verify the effectiveness of a classroom based mindfulness program.

·         There are many mindfulness and mediation resources available that students can consider before or after class.

·         Not everyone might find mindfulness-based programs beneficial, which could limit usability in the classroom.

·         Further study is needed before applying any 1 such program systematically on a large scale.

·         Brief classroom-based wellness activities have the potential to benefit mental health. Students might be more motivated to explore such wellness activities further after learning about them in the classroom.

·         This study highlights the potential benefits of brief mindfulness activities on mental health even if it’s not every day.

What are some helpful resources for mindfulness and meditation?

·         Some students may find Apps like Virtual Hope Box (free), Headspace or Calm helpful to learn and practice meditation.

·         Online Mindfulness practices through OSU Wexner Medical Center

·         Ohio State SMART Lab for stress management skills.

·         Student Life Counseling and Consultation Service

·         Student Wellness Center for wellness coaching and related services.

·         National Institutes of Health’s page on Meditation

 

Ryan S Patel DO, FAPA

Psychiatrist, Counseling and Consultation Service 
Office of Student Life  

References:

1.      Poissant, H., Mendrek, A., Talbot, N., Khoury, B., & Nolan, J. (2019). Behavioral and Cognitive Impacts of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Adults with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Review. Behavioural neurology, 2019, 5682050. doi:10.1155/2019/5682050

2.      Goyal M, Singh S, Sibinga EMS, et al. Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-Being [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2014 Jan. (Comparative Effectiveness Reviews, No. 124.)Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK180102/

3.      Patel R. Mental Health For College Students  https://a.co/d/iXhbkAj

4.      JesseHonsky , Marjorie N. Edguer , Elizabeth R. Click , Suzanne Rusnak , Barbara Burgess Van Aken , Matthew A. Salerno & Kristen A. Berg (2023) Mindfulness matters in the classroom: A pilot study of a university-wide classroom-based brief mindfulness program, Journal of American College Health, DOI: 1080/07448481.2023.2237596