Mindfulness Can Improve Mental Health Among Students
Mental health could be improved among students by introducing mindfulness training. These are the latest finding from the first UK study on the efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy among students. The study is published in Education Research International.
Recent studies have proved that students are among those who are most likely to develop mental health problems when compared with the general population. The study from the University of Bristol established that overall mindfulness can be very much effective at improving mental health among those considered to be at risk of developing stress-related illnesses.
Approximately 57 medical students participated in an eight-week mindfulness program for the purposes of the study. Students were required to attend the training two hours each week while also committing to 30-minutes of daily home practice. The training taught participants how to be mindful, how it works, how stress impacts one’s life, what are stress triggers, signs of stress symptoms, meditation practice, and coping techniques. Students were fully equipped to deal with stress by using mindfulness techniques. Students also conducted six interviews lasting anywhere between 60 and 90 minutes.
Students reported that mindfulness training helped them to learn more about the tools needed for coping with emotional difficulties. They reported improved communication skills and empathy. Furthermore, students reported that they are able to manage their workload better as well as the ability to notice negative and judgmental thinking about themselves and the world around them.
Dr. Alice Malpass, Research Fellow in the Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS) and co-author of the study, said:
“At Bristol, we are continuing to increase efforts to find solutions to improve mental health among the student population. Our aim is to find effective new ways of supporting students who may be suffering from stress and anxiety. This study has shown how mindfulness can help students who might be struggling, in particular, medical students, find new ways of relating to the difficulties that arise in their clinical work, studying and wellbeing.”
Is Moderate Drinking Good for You?
Is Moderate Drinking Good for You?
In the past few decades, there was a discussion among researchers and medical professionals on whether drinking at moderate levels is good for one’s health.
The evidence from many studies suggests that the death rate for moderate drinkers is usually higher than for non-drinkers. In other words, moderate drinkers do not live longer than non-drinkers. In the previous studies, some suggested that moderate drinking is actually healthier than not drinking at all. But this sounds too good to be true… and it is.
As you increase the level of drinking from not drinking to moderate and heavy drinking, the health outcomes worsen. The recent study suggests that if you drink one alcoholic drink per day then you have 0.5% higher risk of developing one of 23 most common alcohol-related conditions. The health cost of light to moderate drinking is quite small, but that does not mean that those live longer healthier lives when you compare it to those who don’t drink at all.
Skinnier Doesn’t Mean Healthier
When we talk about weight, we often talk about how being overweight is bad for your health, and we often forget about those who are too skinny and the health outcomes that follow those who are skinnier.
We live in a culture where we praise the skinny ones while we judge those who are overweight advising them how they should lose weight if they want to stay healthy. You will not find too many articles online on how to gain weight in order to stay healthy. That even seems absurd to us, but it in this culture where we praise skinny celebrities that it has become the norm that we follow the health conditions of those who are skinnier than others.
A high body mass index or BMI can be indicative of ill health, but skinniness does not mean that one is healthy. There are many people who are considered to be under normal and healthy BMI range, but they develop a non-communicable disease or other illnesses.
Health is not only a matter of weight for one’s height but as described by the World Health Organization it is a state of physical, mental and social well-being.
