Meditation helps college students improve brain function and reduce stress »

The typical "stressors" of college life can leave their mark on a student's brain functioning, resulting in cognitive deterioration and elevated anxiety levels. A new research study suggests that meditation may be the perfect antidote to the stress of college life. Students who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique are less tired, recover from stress better and show higher "Brain Integration" scores. These higher scores in meditating students are correlated with greater emotional stability, improved moral reasoning and decreased anxiety.

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College is a great challenge for most students, many of whom are making major life decisions for the first time. Attending an institution of higher learning is expected to contribute to a student’s personal growth and intellectual development, but research in neuroscience has raised the alarming possibility that the reverse can also be true. Pressure to perform, social frustrations, financial burdens, interrupted sleep, alcohol and drug abuse—in other words, the typical college life—can leave its mark on the functioning of the student’s brain, resulting in elevated anxiety levels and cognitive deterioration. [1]

The good news: according to a new research study published in the February 24 issue of the peer-reviewed International Journal of Psychophysiology, meditation is helping students deal with stress and reverse its negative effects on the brain.

The Research Study:
In January 2006 at American University in Washington, DC, a team of researchers—including members of AU faculty—began investigating brain function, cognitive development and overall health of 298 college students in the Washington area. Fifty of these students volunteered for a 10-week sub-study, and were randomly assigned to learn the Transcendental Meditation technique.

The study took place during one of the most stressful times in the student calendar, the 10 weeks leading up to final's week in the Spring term. The results indicate that practice of the Transcendental
Meditation technique significantly improved student brain function and reaction to stress. Those not practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique showed decreased brain function and other
measures of decline, such as increases in sleepiness and impaired recovery from stress. Research methods included EEG brainwave analysis combined to form a Brain Integration Scale, and other empirically identified measures.

“The pressures of college can be overwhelming—44% of college students binge drink, 37% report use illegal drugs, 19% report clinical depression, and 13% report high levels of anxiety,” says Fred Travis, the study’s lead author.

Travis said the control data from the study showed the detrimental effects that college life can inflict on students. “The non-meditating control group had more fragmented brain functioning and corresponding fragmented thinking and planning, along with increased sympathetic reactivity, sleepiness, anxiety, worry and irritability.”

Brain researchers tell us that under high stress, the brain downshifts to a stimulus/response [2] mode—associated with the so-called "fight or flight" response—and that high psychosocial stress can trigger this response, resulting in impaired memory and increased anxiety and aggression. "The stress response is a normal response to prepare for emergency situations," said Travis. "However, if the system is not allowed to recover from stressful experiences, the stress response may not turn off or may get triggered even by mild experiences." [3]

In contrast, Transcendental Meditation practice appeared to buffer the effects of high stress. "Previous research has shown that the brain's frontal areas are activated during Transcendental Meditation," said Travis. "We now understand that enlivening the brain's frontal areas—which are responsible for planning and guiding one’s behavior—leads to better decision making and lifestyle choices. From pretest to posttest, Brain Integration scores significantly increased in students practicing TM, indicating better planning and thinking and healthier perception of the world. Sympathetic reactivity and sleepiness decreased, indicating greater emotional balance and alertness. These statistically significant results in college students suggest that the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique is valuable for anyone in an intensely challenging work or learning environment.”

The study was a collaboration between the Psychology Department at American University in Washington, D.C., and the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. This was the first random-assignment clinical study on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation Technique on brain functioning and stress reactivity in college students.

The Transcendental Meditation technique is easy to learn, simple to practice, and requires no belief or lifestyle change. Practiced 15-20 minutes twice a day, the TM technique does not take years to master, nor does it involve concentration or contemplation. Past studies have shown that TM brings faster recovery from sleep deprivation, improved memory and increased clarity of thought. The Transcendental Meditation technique may prove to be an ideal antidote to the college lifestyle.

* Travis, F. et al., Effects of Transcendental Meditation practice on brain functioning and stress reactivity in college students, Int. J. Psychophysiology. [2008], doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.09.007

1 Arnedt, J.T., Owens, J., Crouch, M., Stahl, J., Carskadon, M.A., 2005. Neurobehavioral
performance of residents after heavy night call vs after alcohol ingestion. JAMA 294, 1025–1033.

2 Caine, R.N., Caine, G., 1991. Making connections: Teaching and the Human Brain.
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, Va.

3 McEwen, B.S., 2006a. Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators: central role of the brain. Dialogues Clin. Neurosci. 8, 367–381.

McEwen, B.S., 2006b. Sleep deprivation as a neurobiologic and physiologic stressor: allostasis and allostatic load. Metabolism 55, S20–S23.

Bio:

<b>Tom Ball</b> earned a BA in Western Philosophy from Maharishi
University of Management, an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia
University. He has enjoyed a rich career of lecturing and
teaching meditation across the US and around the world. He is a writer
for <a href= "http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/"&g... David Lynch
Foundation.</a> and director of <a href= "www.meditationasheville.org">Transce... Meditation program, Asheville, N.C.</a> .
See also, <a href= "http://www.doctorsontm.com">Doctors on Meditation</a>

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