Meditation Improves Mental Health in Teenagers

According to a new study from researchers from the University of Cambridge, mindfulness meditation, the process of becoming more aware of one's surroundings, improves mental health and well being in teenage boys.
Researchers found that after meditation, 14 and 15 year-old boys had an increased feeling of well-being, defined as the combination of feeling good - including positive emotions such as happiness, contentment, interest and affection - and functioning well.

The study demonstrated that mindfulness meditation training may improve well-being in adolescents and that the more they practice, the greater the benefits. According to the researchers, many of the students genuinely enjoyed the exercises and said they intended to continue using them.

Another significant aspect of this study was that adolescents who suffered from higher levels of anxiety were the ones who benefited the most from the training.
The meditation classes included instruction in the concepts of awareness and acceptance, and taught the schoolboys such things as how to practice bodily awareness by noticing where they were in contact with their chairs or the floor, paying attention to their breathing, and noticing all the sensations involved in walking.

The study concluded that if someone practices being in the present, they can increase positive feelings by enjoying pleasurable on-going experiences. Additionally, calming the mind and observing experiences with curiosity and acceptance can reduce stress and help with attention control and emotion regulation.

The easiest way to learn mindfulness meditation is to contact a meditation center in the area. Each meditation session is a journey of discovery. In the beginning the most important lesson of meditation is seeing the speed of the mind. But the meditation tradition says that mind doesn’t have to be this way: it just hasn’t been worked with.