Students who undertook an eight-week mindfulness course to reduce exam stress are still benefiting from it a year on, according to a study of University of Cambridge students.
For the study nearly 700 students were monitored, half of which took hourly mindfulness sessions with a professional tutor. A year later the researchers returned to find these students continued to benefit from the mindfulness programme, when compared with standard support.
Cambridge University’s Julieta Galante said: “Our study shows that the provision of mindfulness training could be effective, and cost-effective, component of a wider university student mental health strategy. However, this only applies to group-based interactive mindfulness courses taught by a qualified mindfulness teacher.”
She felt learning mindfulness from an App is very different from working with a teacher.
Galate also stressed that the course has no effect on pass rates. She explained: “Mindfulness seems to be good for stress, but the concentration skills do not seem to apply to academic performance, and there surely are other factors at play.”
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