Topic of interest: Meditation and Academic Performance

Anxiety
Education is the most important invention of mankind. It has transformed man from 'two-legged animal' into human
being. It is a process of human enlightenment and empowerment for the achievement of a better and higher quality
of life. It is a never-ending process of inner growth and development. Its period stretches from cradle to grave. Child
enters the school, studies and achieve in studies, attains maturity in all most every sphere, leaves it and enters the
college or university. During his stay in the school, the student is concerned about his academic achievement, his
family, peer group and school, put different pressures upon him for excellent achievement. In all this affects his
general mental status. There is no doubt that academic achievement is important. But it leads to academic anxiety
and unhappiness of the individual. Then it can lead to many psychological problems to an individual. ( *volume7-
issue5(1)-2018.pdf (ijmer.s3.amazonaws.com))

Singh, G. (2018). Academic anxiety and happiness in relation to academic achievement of adolescents. International
Journal of Education and Management Studies, 8(2), 292-296.

Anxiety is your body’s way of telling you that there is something in the environment in need of your attention. It is
basically a series of biochemical changes in your brain and body, such as an increase in adrenaline (causing your
heart to beat faster) and a decrease in dopamine (a brain chemical that helps to block pain). ( *3-1-70-503-with-
cover-page-v2.pdf (d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net))

Kataria, S. (2018). Relationship between academic anxiety and aggression among adolescents.

Anxiety is not bad thing. It is true that a high level of anxiety interferes with concentration and memory, which are
critical for academic success. Without any anxiety, however, most of us would lack the motivation to study for
exams, write papers, or do daily homework (especially in classes we find boring). A moderate amount of anxiety
actually helps academic performance by creating motivation. Anxiety plays important roles in our lives. *Academic-
Anxiety-An-Overview.pdf (researchgate.net)

Hooda, M., & Saini, A. (2017). Academic anxiety: An overview. Educational Quest, 8(3), 807-810.

Academic Anxiety
Adolescence is a transitional stage from childhood to adulthood and is a time of major changes in all areas of
functioning. During this phase, adolescents experience various life stresses. Academic matters are the most
important sources of chronic and sporadic stress for young people in both Western and Asian Countries and have
significant association with problems such as depression, anxiety, alienation and suicidal ideation. Academic stress
involves mental distress regarding anticipated academic challenges or failure. *Dr. shaveta Sharma
(researchgate.net)

Khangura, M. K., Sharma, S., & Khosla, M. (2021). The Predictive Influence of Resilience And Academic
Alienation on Academic Anxiety of Adolescents.
Students experiencing academic anxiety feel apprehensive over academic tasks. Students can feel anxiety related to
every academic task. Some may only feel anxiety related to test taking or other specific tasks. Anxiety is not always
negative. Some students can be motivated by anxiety. *Academic-Anxiety-An-Overview.pdf (researchgate.net)
Academic anxiety includes the total learning process of a student like interrupted concentration of internal,
interpersonal or other concerned skills. It all starts with the importance we give to percentage of marks; a child’s
scores stress is imposed on the child in the form of pressure to excel in exams. Though pressure in itself is not
harmful to a person, the fear of failure induces an extra burden in the child. This fear gradually results in a stronger
emotion known as anxiety. An anxious child is unable to point out any specific object of fear and s/he automatically
starts producing the symptoms of anxiety, e.g., uneasiness, discomfort, excessive sweating, trembling, worry,
tension, breathlessness, trouble in concentrating, etc. (*3-1-70-503-with-cover-page-v2.pdf
(d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net))

How academic anxiety affect academic performance

It is normal for a student to feel anxious before a test or examination, but it becomes problematic when the level of
anxiety is excess. The negative effects of anxiety can be explained by two models namely; the interference and the
learning deficit models. According to the interference models, anxious student are distracted due to task irrelevant
cognitions and negative thoughts during examinations, while the learning deficit model proposes that it is student’s
ineffective study habits during preparation for an examination that causes them to be anxious. Academic anxiety is
one of the important factors to detraining the academic achievement of student, so there is need to manage academic
anxiety to improve the academic performance. *Academic-Anxiety-An-Overview.pdf (researchgate.net)

The study investigated the extent of academic anxiety and its impact on academic performance in Master of
Pharmacy Undergraduates. It can be concluded that test anxiety, academic competence, time management and
strategic studying are all factors significantly affect academic performance.
Mirawdali, S., Morrissey, H., & Ball, P. (2018). Academic anxiety and its effects on academic performance.

Results of the current examination demonstrated that students with high levels of emotional
intelligence enjoyed higher levels of academic performance over their university careers.

What is Meditation
A technique that can help with the management of stress is meditation. It cultivates mindfulness and it can be
particularly effective at reducing stress, anxiety, depression, and other negative emotions. Mindfulness is the quality
of being fully engaged in the present moment, without overthinking or analysing the experience. Rather than
worrying about the future or dwelling on the past, mindfulness meditation switches the focus on what is happening
right now. Mindfulness meditation is not equal to zoning out. It takes an effort to maintain your concentration and to
bring it back to the present moment when your mind wanders or you start to drift off. However, with regular
practice, mindfulness strengthens the areas of the brain associated with joy and relaxation. Mindfulness provides a
potentially powerful antidote to the common causes of daily stress such as time pressure, distraction, agitation, and
interpersonal conflicts [3]. G. Essel and P. Owusu, Causes of students’ stress, its effects on their academic success,
and stress management by students, Case study at Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Finland, Thesis,
https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/124792/Thesis%20Docu ment.pdf?sequence=1 , 2017, pp.15-34.
How it affects mental state
Students reported an increased sense of calm, and a decreased feeling of anxiety. Lovingkindness meditation was
mostly perceived as a positive way to close the class. Their instructors also observed that the brief mindful breathing
practice at start of class helped students become more grounded and focused before engaging in the course content.
Mindfulness practice as a teaching-learning strategy in higher education: A qualitative exploratory pilot study -
ScienceDirect

Schwind, J. K., McCay, E., Beanlands, H., Martin, L. S., Martin, J., & Binder, M. (2017). Mindfulness practice as a
teaching-learning strategy in higher education: A qualitative exploratory pilot study. Nurse education today, 50, 92-
96.
Practicing self-care daily reduced academic stress in our sample. Practicing self-care weekly or monthly did not
have a relationship with academic stress. Neither had a bivariate relationship or ended up in the final model. The
type of self-care practice was also not a factor and did not end up in the final model. In addition, as students’
progress through the program, they experience minimally less academic stress. More studies are needed to examine
other factors that may also reduce academic stress for social work students. 10437797.2018.149135920220602-1-
xoidf8-with-cover-page-v2.pdf (d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net)

O’Neill, M., Yoder Slater, G., & Batt, D. (2019). Social work student self-care and academic stress. Journal of
Social Work Education, 55(1), 141-152.

The data revealed that for all scales the intervention was associated with enhanced mindfulness and mental well-
being and decreased perceived stress. Further analysis indicated that controlling for various health promoting
lifestyle behaviors preserves the positive impact of mindfulness meditation as demonstrated. Mindfulness meditation
uniformly and independently improved the participants overall mental health. The data supports a feasible option for
minimizing stress and maintaining mental well-being in a demanding professional program. Effects of mindfulness
meditation on mindfulness, mental well-being, and perceived stress - ScienceDirect

Zollars, I., Poirier, T. I., & Pailden, J. (2019). Effects of mindfulness meditation on mindfulness, mental well-being,
and perceived stress. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 11(10), 1022-1028.
This study demonstrated that both a 30-minute silent meditation and a 30-minute didgeridoo sound meditation
resulted in significant self-assessed positive changes in mood and stress in undergraduates without prior meditation
experience. Immediately following either type of meditation, each group experienced statistically significant
increases in relaxation and decreases in tiredness, negative arousal, energy, and acute self-perceived stress.
*Didgeridoo Sound Meditation for Stress Reduction and Mood Enhancement in Undergraduates: A Randomized
Controlled Trial (sagepub.com)

Philips, K. H., Brintz, C. E., Moss, K., & Gaylord, S. A. (2019). Didgeridoo sound meditation for stress reduction
and mood enhancement in undergraduates: a randomized controlled trial. Global advances in health and
medicine, 8, 2164956119879367.

In line with our hypotheses, mindfulness meditation app users reported greater improvements in several mental
health outcomes than did attention placebo control app users. Changes in mental health outcomes were also largely
dependent upon frequency of app use. People who used their mindfulness apps more frequently during the 30 days
of discretionary use showed the greatest benefits in terms of their college adjustment and mindfulness, and to a
lesser extent, depressive symptoms and anxiety. Importantly, this benefit for frequent app users only occurred for
those randomly assigned to use a mindfulness app, suggesting that the mental health benefits of mobile mindfulness
apps were not explained by digital placebo effects. *Mobile Mindfulness Meditation: a Randomised Controlled Trial
of the Effect of Two Popular Apps on Mental Health (researchgate.net)
Flett, J. A., Hayne, H., Riordan, B. C., Thompson, L. M., & Conner, T. S. (2019). Mobile mindfulness meditation: a
randomised controlled trial of the effect of two popular apps on mental health. Mindfulness, 10(5), 863-876.

In this study, PharmD and other college students demonstrated a reduction in stress and anxiety levels after
completing a six-week yoga and meditation program. These results suggest that adopting a mindfulness practice for
as little as once per week for six weeks may reduce stress and anxiety in college students. *7001.full.pdf (ajpe.org)

Lemay, V., Hoolahan, J., & Buchanan, A. (2019). Impact of a yoga and meditation intervention on students' stress
and anxiety levels. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 83(5).

We observed that the intervention promoted significant reductions in depression and anxiety scores in the meditation
group, while there was an increase in the same scores for the control group. Also, depression scores were lower for
those who continued meditating at 6 months follow-up, compared to those who did not continue with the practice,
and anxiety scores were lower for those who remained meditating at both 6 and 12 months after the intervention, but
not for those who stopped the practice. The effect of a six-week focused meditation training on depression and
anxiety symptoms in Brazilian university students with 6 and 12 months of follow-up - ScienceDirect

Carpena, M. X., de Souza Tavares, P., & Menezes, C. B. (2019). The effect of a six-week focused meditation
training on depression and anxiety symptoms in Brazilian university students with 6 and 12 months of follow-
up. Journal of affective disorders, 246, 401-407.

we found that first-year college students face significant stress and anxiety. Students described common stressors
such as academic, social and financial pressures. In this study, we found that the JB mindfulness program enables
students to make small changes in their lives to improve their wellbeing. JB provides students with coping strategies
to manage common stressors and helps address underlying causes of stress. While generalizations cannot be made,
the students’ descriptions of their subjective experiences help illuminate the mechanisms by which mindfulness
interventions help reduce stress for adolescents who are transitioning to college. Given the positive outcomes from
various research studies, student affairs at universities could offer a promising venue through similar mindfulness
programs for addressing the needs of college students and helping them set on a path to well-being and success.
*Mafouz-et-al2018-with-cover-page-v2.pdf (d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net)

Mahfouz, J., Levitan, J., Schussler, D., Broderick, T., Dvorakova, K., Argusti, M., & Greenberg, M. (2018).
Ensuring college student success through mindfulness-based classes: Just breathe. College Student Affairs
Journal, 36(1), 1-16.

Importance of good mental state on academic performance (support with data)

Results of the current examination demonstrated that students with high levels of emotional intelligence enjoyed
higher levels of academic performance over their university careers. The current examination supports prior studies
examining the relationships among test anxiety, coping, and performance. The results are clearly consistent with the
skills deficit model of test anxiety, which suggests that performance decrements for test anxious learners are a
consequence of effectively encoding, storing, or retrieving information during test preparation and test performance
conditions (Cassady, 2004b; Geen, 1980; Naveh-Benjamin, 1991; Zeidner, 1998). These skills deficiencies include
not only basic cognitive operational failures, but also a tendency to engage in inefficient or unproductive test
preparation strategies (e.g., procrastination; Kalechstein, Hocevar, Zimmer, & Kalechstein, 1989). Consistent with
this view, our results illustrated a moderate correlation between cognitive test anxiety and the use avoidance coping
strategies — suggesting that test anxious students increasingly rely on coping strategies that prevent effective
encoding of academic information (i.e. avoidance of material, mental disengagement; Stöeber, 2004; Zeidner &
Matthews, 2005).
The_influence_of_emotional_intelligence__cognitive_test_anxiety__and_coping_strategies_on_undergrad1120200
419-53433-1xueat4-with-cover-page-v2.pdf (d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net)

Thomas, C. L., Cassady, J. C., & Heller, M. L. (2017). The influence of emotional intelligence, cognitive test
anxiety, and coping strategies on undergraduate academic performance. Learning and Individual Differences, 55,
40-48.

Many studies have demonstrated the positive relationship between mindfulness and academic performance (Lin &
Mai, 2018; McCloskey 2015). When explaining this relationship, authors argue that mindfulness reduces stress and
anxiety (McCloskey, 2015) or increases attention and memory (Lin & Mai 2018; Sample, Thomas & Marco, 2017),
which lead to increased academic performance.
Mindfulness mediation has been applied to improve well-being and mental health to improve students' health status
and academic performance. Mindfulness meditation, a clinically proven method, involves nonjudgmentally
concentrating people's attention on the current moment [4]. It can enhance people's attention, memory, and critical
awareness, promoting students' social skills and academic outcomes [5]. *125969496.pdf
It is proved that MM is positively related to academic performance, such as using breathing techniques, sitting
meditation and MBI. Improving academic performance (AP) can be reflected in test scores and learning abilities or
skills. *125969496.pdf
Campbell (2021) found that mindfulness exercises improved test scores in reading and mathematics for third- to
fifth-graders [13]. *125969496.pdf
The positive effect of MM on AP is mainly through cognitive mechanisms. By improving self-regulation and
resilience, students' social and emotional well-being is guaranteed, thereby enhancing the academic performance of
children [13]. *125969496.pdf

Liu, Y., Liu, Y., & Wang, C. (2022, January). The Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Academic Performance of
Students. In 2021 International Conference on Public Art and Human Development (ICPAHD 2021) (pp. 56-61).
Atlantis Press.

Kerrigan et al. (2017) found mindfulness reduced stress, anxiety and improved coping skills as well increased
students’ productivity and promoted a healthier relationship to studying by helping them procrastinate less and
having greater self-efficacy for handling stress.

Students’ perceptions of the direct positive influence of mindfulness on academic performance by enhancing
creativity, integrative-thinking, analysis and insight, as well as memory. The perceived positive direct influences of
mindfulness on academic performance could result from students’ enhanced awareness of their thought processes
during intellectual activity and their ability to regulate their thinking. Mindfulness might support analytic thinking
by reducing distractions and enhancing attention to the information to be analysed. Improved capacity to notice and
choose between different thoughts could promote cognitive flexibility which might promote analytical-thinking. The
same mechanisms may also support memory by enabling a greater degree of processing of information to be
memorised leading to improved encoding into, and subsequent retrieval from, memory storage. Students’
perceptions that reductions in procrastination and distress promoted their academic performance. One possible way
in which mindfulness may indirectly support academic performance is that the reduction mindfulness appears to
cause in distressing-causing thoughts changes how working memory capacity is allocated. The themes of enhanced
sense of energy for study and enjoyment may be related to students enhanced ability to notice thoughts that generate
a sense of threat such as self-critical evaluations and negative scenarios of the future, and either ignoring these
thoughts, or generating alternative ones. The students’ perception that mindfulness enhanced self-awareness and
self-regulation of thoughts, feelings and behaviours and that this led to changes which supported their academic
performance. *Boo et al (2019) MSS RCT Qualitative Follow-up Study Jour Coun.Psychoth... (1).pdf (cam.ac.uk)

Bóo, S. J., Childs‐Fegredo, J., Cooney, S., Datta, B., Dufour, G., Jones, P. B., & Galante, J. (2020). A follow ‐up
study to a randomised control trial to investigate the perceived impact of mindfulness on academic performance in
university students. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 20(2), 286-301.

First, our findings show that mindfulness was not directly associated with performance, but that certain mechanisms
could explain this relationship. In the present study, we assumed that instead of directly affecting students’ academic
performance, mindfulness would have an indirect effect via students’ engagement. Furthermore, this relationship
would be more robust when students act compassionately towards their peers. In other words, mindfulness facilitates
students’ compassion and this will lead to increased levels of engagement and, consequently, of academic
performance. *chiva_2019_mid.pdf (uji.es)

Miralles-Armenteros, S., Chiva-Gómez, R., Rodríguez-Sánchez, A., & Barghouti, Z. (2021). Mindfulness and
academic performance: The role of compassion and engagement. Innovations in Education and Teaching
International, 58(1), 3-13.

Undergraduate college students face stress and anxiety daily, affecting academics and quality of life. Meditation
offers a way to combat this stress and anxiety. However, many undergraduate students do not have time to commit
to a full-time meditation program. This pilot study examined the impact of generalized anxiety disorder on academic
performance in undergraduate students following a brief, one time, guided meditation and found that there was no
statistically significant difference in lab quiz scores based on GAD severity. *The Impact of Generalized Anxiety
Disorder on Academic Performance in Undergraduate Students Following a Brief Guided Meditation (winthrop.edu)

Maclay, A. (2019). The Impact of Generalized Anxiety Disorder on Academic Performance in Undergraduate
Students Following a Brief Guided Meditation. The Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin, 5(1), 8.
we found that first-year college students face significant stress and anxiety. Students described common stressors
such as academic, social and financial pressures. In this study, we found that the JB mindfulness program enables
students to make small changes in their lives to improve their wellbeing. JB provides students with coping strategies
to manage common stressors and helps address underlying causes of stress. While generalizations cannot be made,
the students’ descriptions of their subjective experiences help illuminate the mechanisms by which mindfulness
interventions help reduce stress for adolescents who are transitioning to college. Given the positive outcomes from
various research studies, student affairs at universities could offer a promising venue through similar mindfulness
programs for addressing the needs of college students and helping them set on a path to well-being and success.
*Mafouz-et-al2018-with-cover-page-v2.pdf (d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net)

Mahfouz, J., Levitan, J., Schussler, D., Broderick, T., Dvorakova, K., Argusti, M., & Greenberg, M. (2018).
Ensuring college student success through mindfulness-based classes: Just breathe. College Student Affairs
Journal, 36(1), 1-16.

Results of the current examination demonstrated that students with high levels of emotional intelligence enjoyed
higher levels of academic performance over their university careers. The current examination supports prior studies
examining the relationships among test anxiety, coping, and performance. The results are clearly consistent with the
skills deficit model of test anxiety, which suggests that performance decrements for test anxious learners are a
consequence of effectively encoding, storing, or retrieving information during test preparation and test performance
conditions (Cassady, 2004b; Geen, 1980; Naveh-Benjamin, 1991; Zeidner, 1998). These skills deficiencies include
not only basic cognitive operational failures, but also a tendency to engage in inefficient or unproductive test
preparation strategies (e.g., procrastination; Kalechstein, Hocevar, Zimmer, & Kalechstein, 1989). Consistent with
this view, our results illustrated a moderate correlation between cognitive test anxiety and the use avoidance coping
strategies — suggesting that test anxious students increasingly rely on coping strategies that prevent effective
encoding of academic information (i.e. avoidance of material, mental disengagement; Stöeber, 2004; Zeidner &
Matthews, 2005).
The_influence_of_emotional_intelligence__cognitive_test_anxiety__and_coping_strategies_on_undergrad1120200
419-53433-1xueat4-with-cover-page-v2.pdf (d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net)

Thomas, C. L., Cassady, J. C., & Heller, M. L. (2017). The influence of emotional intelligence, cognitive test
anxiety, and coping strategies on undergraduate academic performance. Learning and Individual Differences, 55,
40-48.
Many studies have demonstrated the positive relationship between mindfulness and academic performance (Lin &
Mai, 2018)

Mindfulness mediation has been applied to improve well-being and mental health to improve students' health status
and academic performance. Mindfulness meditation, a clinically proven method, involves nonjudgmentally
concentrating people's attention on the current moment [4]. It can enhance people's attention, memory, and critical
awareness, promoting students' social skills and academic outcomes [5]. *125969496.pdf
It is proved that MM is positively related to academic performance, such as using breathing techniques, sitting
meditation and MBI. Improving academic performance (AP) can be reflected in test scores and learning abilities or
skills. *125969496.pdf
Campbell (2021) found that mindfulness exercises improved test scores in reading and mathematics for third- to
fifth-graders [13]. *125969496.pdf
The positive effect of MM on AP is mainly through cognitive mechanisms. By improving self-regulation and
resilience, students' social and emotional well-being is guaranteed, thereby enhancing the academic performance of
children [13]. *125969496.pdf

Liu, Y., Liu, Y., & Wang, C. (2022, January). The Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Academic Performance of
Students. In 2021 International Conference on Public Art and Human Development (ICPAHD 2021) (pp. 56-61).
Atlantis Press.