Study: Meditation may help reduce stress, increase self-awareness

By Staff Writer

Many teens who have communication problems or who suffer from anxiety live in a fast-paced environment with computers, video games, cell phones and television. Some adolescents rarely experience long periods of silence, which may contribute to certain attention issues or high levels of stress.

A new study by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers reveals that a meditation program can help the human brain in areas associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. The findings, which will appear in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, were based on magnetic resonance images that were taken of 16 study participants.

Images were recorded before and after an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts, which included practices of meditation that focused on nonjudgmental awareness of sensations, feelings and state of mind. The participants also received audio recordings of the guided practice and were asked to record how much time they meditated each day.

The MR images showed that participants who regularly meditated had increases in brain structures that affected learning, memory, self-awareness, compassion and introspection.

Problem teens who are disruptive and lack empathy for others may benefit from boarding schools.