As college students, we normally have a lot on our minds. Classes, jobs, internships. It can easily wear down on us. While we find our own ways to cope, some healthy, some not so much, a recent study has found a new solution for college stress.
The American University Department of Psychology in Washington, D.C., and the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa collaborated on a study that found Transcendental Meditation is an effective nonmedicinal tool to fight the stresses of college.
During the study, a test group of student’s physiological and psychological states and abilities were measured at a pretest that calculated their Brain Integration Scale. Half of the students remained a control group, while the other half practiced Transcendental Meditation. Both groups were given a similar post-test and it was determined that the meditating students had higher Brain Integration Scale scores than the control group, who’s scores were lower, indicating their brain functioning was more fragmented.
“The pressures of college can be overwhelming—44% of college students binge drink, 37% report use of illegal drugs, 19% report clinical depression, and 13% report high levels of anxiety,” said Fred Travis, lead author and director of the MUM brain research center, in an article about the study.
Meditation has been proven to reduce stress, improve concentration and increase overall emotional well-being. Any students at UT that are interested in trying meditation on campus, check out the Sykes Chapel for Faith and Values Meditation Rooms, open Monday through Friday from 1-4 p.m.
There are also classes available to students during the week. There is a Yoga Nidra class which is a combination of yoga and sleep mediation on Tuesdays from 7-8 p.m. There is also a Guided Meditation class which consists of basic meditation on Thursdays from 7-8 p.m.
Brandon D’Arezzo, one of the Wellness Coordinators on campus leads the Yoga Nidra class on Tuesday nights. The class is filled with anywhere from three to up to 14 students, all working on self meditation. D’Arezzo has been meditating for many years and finds it very beneficial.
“[Meditation] is a time to clear away everything and to just be with myself. The value is hard to describe because it needs to be experienced,” D’Arezzo said.
D’Arezzo believes that students find it beneficial and get a lot out of his class. Freshman, Gina Piccorossi meditates and finds it helpful for the stresses of college.
“Finding a nice quiet spot, like the garden outside of the chapel, helps lower stress about any upcoming exams or papers. Meditating keeps me sane as a student and helps me keep my mind in order balancing the chaos that is college,” Piccorossi said.
If you aren’t ready for a class and want to try meditation on your own, here are some tips to get you going:
1. Focus on your breathing.
One of the most challenging aspects of meditation is maintaining the proper state of mind. One of the easiest ways to do this is to concentrate on your breathing. Count the number of breaths that you inhale and exhale, and let that anchor you to the present.
2. Let thoughts come to mind—then let them go.
If you find it difficult to concentrate
on your breathing and realize you are thinking about stressful or unrelated things, don’t get upset with yourself or quit. Recognize that you are thinking about unrelated matters, then let them go, and bring yourself back to the present moment.
3. Don’t give up!
Meditation may be frustrating at first and it is easy to give up when you feel as though you are not experiencing the benefits or that it is taking too long to learn. However, try and keep with it. Try meditating for shorter periods of time and build your way up to longer stretches. The benefits of meditation will reveal themselves in time, but only if you keep working at it.
uhhhhh… Earl Warren, can you please say who this teacher is..? Perhaps if The Minaret isn’t concerned some other students are…. I know I don’t want to be around a mentally ill teacher who has a gun on campus. Just saying..
OR, if you really want The Minaret to gain such information you could always email them. Pretty sure they have access to email…
It is good to see there is interest in meditation to deal with stress and the debilitating effects it creates over a lifetime. But it is important to note that the research study was done on Transcendental Meditation and not on the techniques you describe. Different meditation techniques produce different results, like different brainwave characteristics. Some meditations might get you into a good mood temporarily, but that goes away. Good quality research, published in top scientific journals, on Transcendental Meditation show that regular practice reduces stress and strengthens the nervous system so it automatically handles mental and physical stress better. And when you learn and practice TM properly, TM is easy and enjoyable to practice, and the good results are experienced throughout the day.
Nice to see the minaret tackle such weighty issues instead of, say, the fact that an accomplice to murder is on the faculty or that a faculty member with mental illness has brought a gun to campus on several ocassions.
Does meditation stop bullets?
Keep up the good work, Minaret.
There is a nice website on TM Meditation, which collects reports from governmental und independant sources about this meditation. –
TM helps me a lot to handle stressful situations in my study succesfully, and also in other areas. And it helped me to stop smoking.