No worries, mindfulness is your lifesaver!

Do you also feel stressed, anxious, and depressed before and during exam periods? Then you are not the only one. There are a lot of students who experience the same thing. A method that can help you out is mindfulness.

Gallego et al. wanted to look at the question whether mindfulness could decrease stress, anxiety, and depression levels. For this, 125 university students were investigated. They were divided into 3 groups: a mindfulness group, a Physical Education group, and a control group. Over a span of 8 sessions, the 3 groups got different interventions. The mindfulness group had one hour per week where they trained with breathing exercises, yoga, and meditation. The Physical Education group did sports activities and stretch exercises one hour per week. And the control group had no intervention. Before the first and after the last session, they needed to fill out the Abbreviated Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21).

The results were promising. They concluded that mindfulness training led to lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depression in comparison with the control group. Physical education also lead to reduced levels, but to a lesser extent than the mindfulness training group.

So, if stress, anxiety, or depression emerges, don’t worry! Try mindfulness, it can be your lifesaver.

Reference:

Gallego, J., Aguilar-Parra, J., Cangas, A., Langer, A. & Mañas, I. (2014). Effect of a Mindfulness Program on Stress, Anxiety and Depression in University Students. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 17, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1017/sjp.2014.102