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> New study shows meditating before lecture leads to better grades
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> April 9th, 2013 in Psychology & Psychiatry
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> Meditation may work especially well for freshmen. Creative Services photo
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> (Medical Xpress)—Practicing a little Zen before class can lead to better
> grades, according to a new experimental study by George Mason University
> professor Robert Youmans and University of Illinois doctoral student Jared
> Ramsburg.
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> The pair of researchers conducted three classroom experiments at a California
> university to see if meditation might help students focus better and retain
> information. A random selection of students followed basic meditation
> instructions before a lecture, and the students who meditated before the
> lecture scored better on a quiz that followed than students who did not
> meditate. In one experiment, the meditation even predicted which students
> passed and which students failed the quiz.
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> The study was published last month in the journal Mindfulness.
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> Interestingly, the researchers also showed that the effect of the meditation
> was stronger in classes where more freshmen students were enrolled, showing
> that meditation might have a bigger effect on freshmen students. The
> researchers speculate that freshmen courses likely contain the types of
> students who stand to benefit the most from meditation training.
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> "One difficulty for researchers who study meditation is that the supposed
> benefits of meditation do not always replicate across different studies or
> populations, and so we have been trying to figure out why. This data from
> this study suggest that meditation may help students who might have trouble
> paying attention or focusing. Sadly, freshmen classes probably contain more
> of these types of students than senior courses because student populations
> who have difficulty self-regulating are also more likely to leave the
> university," says Youmans, an assistant professor of psychology.
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> Youmans believes that self-reflection might therefore have an important place
> in freshmen seminars or institutions with high attrition rates. Their study
> showed a significant improvement with only six minutes of written meditation
> exercises—and the researchers believe with more extensive training and
> coaching that the results could improve.
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> "Personally, I have found meditation to be helpful for mental clarity, focus
> and self-discipline," says Ramsburg, lead author of the study and a
> practicing Buddhist. "I think that if mindfulness can improve mental clarity,
> focus and self-discipline, then it might be useful in a variety of settings
> and for a variety of goals."
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> Youmans also suggests that, in theory, other forms of active self-reflection
> such as prayer, taking long walks or even just taking the time to mindfully
> plan out your day in the morning could have some of the same positive effects
> as meditation. "Basically, becoming just a little bit more mindful about
> yourself and your place in the world might have a very important, practical
> benefit—in this case, doing better in college."
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> Provided by George Mason University
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> "New study shows meditating before lecture leads to better grades." April
> 9th, 2013. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-meditating-grades.html
>
