Blackstone Academy Charter School

Using MBSR To Mitigate The Effects

of Adolescent Stress And Anxiety

Mellody Alexandra DaCruz

Senior Seminar
Tasche Bryant
4-4-17
AP classes, due dates, extracurricular activities, relationships, family obligations, jobs,

and economic strains. As students go forth in their high school years, their academic workload
gradually progresses in difficulty and stress management begins to be a struggle. The main

stressor amongst adolescent teens seems to be school and it is affecting about 83% of students

(Utica Park Clinic). Without the proper knowledge about chronic stress and effective coping

mechanisms, many students will suffer through their high school career. Mindfulness and

meditation are coping techniques crucial to students due to the rise in stressed teens, which left

ignored, will affect their health and ability to succeed academically.

Background

In 2014, the American Psychological Association named Americans ages 18-33 the

countrys most stressed generation. Today it seems that title belongs to an even younger group:

American teenagers. According to the APAs Stress in America Survey, teens have a stress

level of 5.8 on a 10 point scale during the school year. This far exceeds what researchers believe

to be a healthy stress level of 3.9 for both students and adults. This scale measures how stressed

the individual is feeling throughout their day. APA takes that number on the 10 point scale from

each survey participant and takes the average. The same research found adults to experience

about a 5.1 stress level out of the same 10 point scale. Teens are experiencing extraordinary

levels of stress before reaching adulthood.

Teen stress levels are on the rise and and it has been continuously increasing since the

1950s. Studies conducted by the APA show normal students today report more anxiety caused by

stress than child psychiatric patients in the 1950s. In the research paper, Age of Anxiety published

by Jean M. Twenge, two study cases were administrated from 1952-1993. The first study took

anxiety scores from 40,192 college students and the second from 12,056 children ages 9-17.

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Both have shown a significant increase in anxiety levels proving this to be the age of anxiety.

In the 1950s students experienced less stressed than adults. Fast forward many decades later and

more than a quarter of students nationwide experience extreme stress during their school year

(Eylander). What started off as a very normal anxiety level amongst teens has now progressed to

a more serious chronic stress with more causes leading to it than one would think.

Chronic stress, in fact, has an infinite number of causes depending on the person. For

teens, the top stress factors include social media, poor nutrition, sleep deprivation, and school.

As stated in a Utica Park Clinic survey, 83% of teens said school was the biggest cause of their

stress. A majority of school stress comes from tests, projects, homework, and deadlines which

most likely stems from the progression of technology and how teachers expect more from

students now that they have the necessary resources. Teens who do not get the proper amount of

sleep at night are more susceptible to chronic stress than those who do.

When stress is within one's comfort zone, it can help people stay focused, alert, and even

increase strength. However, chronic stress outside the comfort zone can cause severe damage to

the mind and body. Chronic stress is repeated exposure to situations that lead to the release of

stress hormones and disrupts nearly every system in your body (Segal). According to NYU

research scientist Noelle Leonard, chronic stress impedes students ability to succeed

academically and compromises their mental health. This may lead to anxiety, depression,

cognitive/ memory problems, and bipolar depression (Hills).

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 Aside from mental stability in students, stress can also negatively affect ones physical

health. Common chronic stress symptoms include headaches, muscle pain or tension, chest pain,

and fatigue ("Stress Symptoms: Effects on Your Body and Behavior"). If left untreated, it could

seriously jeopardize ones health and lead to permanent damage to the body as well. From a

study of 1,018 teens conducted by Harris Interactive INC on behalf of APA, more than one-third

of teens (36%) reported fatigue or feeling tired and 44 % reported an impact on their physical

health. In addition to physical and mental health, excess stress alter the sleep pattern of teens. On

average, students sleep 7.4 hours on a school night compared to the 8.5 hours recommended by

the National Sleep Foundation (American Psychological Association Survey Shows Teen Stress

Rivals That of Adults). Symptoms of chronic stress paired with sleep deprivation will adversely

affect the way ones brain functions and ultimately impair your bodys natural system which may

lead to physical and mental disorders.

School: Main Source of Adolescent Stress

Behind every perfect grade is an exhausted, sleep deprived student who exchanges their

happiness for a B+ average. From the first day of freshman year and all throughout high school,

the causes of childhood stress, also known as stressors, are endless. Stressors are events in ones

life that cause stress. Whether it may be a personal issue or external factors, they are not healthy

to experience all the time. The majority of high school students go through their four years not

knowing how to control feelings of stress and anxiety. The first step in controlling stress is

identifying the stressors.

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 Kids are often told by adults to teenagers is that high school is supposedly the best years

of your life not taking into account the amount of stress that got them to where they are today.

This stress mainly stems from the amount of school work students are receiving each night and

not having sufficient energy to carry out their tasks to be more specific. Teens in the U.S report

feeling more stressed-out than the average adult, with school and the workload that accompanies

it, be a main cause according to a new survey for the American Psychological Association

(Shapiro). Despite the many tasks adults endure on a daily basis in the workforce and in their

homes, students have that pressure of needing to have the best grades and maintaining an

exceptional GPA. This puts a great deal of pressure on students because parents who may not

have had the opportunity to attend college want their children to graduate with college being

their next step.

Another factor that plays in with school being stressful is the lack of sleep students get

everynight. The rush to get projects done on time, homework ready to review the following

morning and college essays to type and revise before the deadline can set back a student's

obligation to go to bed on time. The recommended hours of sleep a person from the ages 13-19 is

about 8.5 and a half hours each school night. A majority of high school students get about 7

hours of sleep each night and reports have shown about 25% of teens get less than 6 hours of

sleep (Carter). The National Sleep Foundation insisted sleeping the recommended amount is

crucial because during sleep, important body functions and brain activity occur. Missing out of

sleep can impair those function and make focusing during class and completing homework

promptly and correctly troublesome.

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 Effects of Meditation

Among adolescents, rates of chronic stress and anxiety are on the rise in the modern

world within the adolescent crowd (American Psychological Association) . With that being said,

it is crucial that one who experiences stress periodically should find positive ways to cope with

the stress and anxiety. Luckily there are healthy ways of managing chronic stress like yoga,

mindfulness and meditation. Some ways to meditate include: yoga, guided mantra, and

mindfulness meditation. The most common forms tend to be mindfulness, which is focusing on

the acceptance of living in the present moment during meditation (Corliss) and yoga,

combination of postures and controlled breathing exercises. Mindfulness based stress reduction

has found to be the most effective amongst teens said Dr. Elizabeth Hoge, a psychiatrist at the

Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders because People with anxiety have a problem

dealing with distracting thoughts that have too much power. Mindfulness based stress

meditation allows teens to recognize those thoughts and train oneself to experience those

thoughts differently and have a more positive viewpoint.

Those who have difficulty with their immune system should consider looking into

mindfulness based stress reduction. The brain is the most powerful part of the human body and

can do wonders with meditation being one of its triggers. Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Coming To

Our Senses uncovered a remarkable discovery while conducting a study in collaboration with Dr.

Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin. Their main objective was to look at the

effects of mindfulness and how the immune system responds to stress (368). Like any reliable

experiment, they recruited volunteer and split them up into 2 controlled groups and only one

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group received a flu shot. Group A partook in an eight-week MBSR program in the fall and

group B in the spring (they ended up not going through with the program as intended) so Kabat-

Zinn and Dr. Davidson could compare the results of group A to the group that hasnt yet taken

the course.

At the end of the program Kabat-Zinn and Dr. Davidson were to see how the test

subjects immune system would respond in contrast to the group who did not receive the vaccine

(controlled group). The subjects showed a stronger immune response in form of antibodies

produced against the influenza virus than the group who had not received the flu shot. Kabat-

Zenn and Dr. Davidson also came to the realization whilst collecting data that when they plotted

the degree of change in the test subjects brains after the eight-week session versus the antibody

response of their immune system, there was a positive linear relationship between what was

plotted. In other words, the greater the brain change due to MBSR, the greater the immune

response to toxins that entered their bodies.

Not only does meditation benefit your health, it can literally change a persons brain. A

study conducted by Harvard neuroscientist Sara Lazar looked at the effects of long-term

meditation (Schulte) versus a control group. She came to the conclusion that those who regularly

meditated had an increased amount of grey matter in the frontal cortex of their brains. The frontal

cortex is mainly responsible for executive functioning like problem solving and decision making.

This is essential information for high school students because having cognitive skills and the

ability to problem solve helps students in challenging classes and everyday life outside of school.

Lazar has also found a substantial difference in brain volume in just 8 weeks of monitoring her

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research participants. The left hippocampus had the most improvement regarding brain volume.

The growth in the participants brain is significant because the hippocampus assists with

learning, cognitive skills, memory, and emotional regulation. Researchers believe that the

increased volume of the hippocampus has the potential to help with studying, keeping track of

important tasks, and essentially increasing ones chance of academic success. This hippocampal

growth due to meditation is extremely beneficial to teens in high school because it aids with the

mental function chronic stress impairs.

Stress Reduction Activities in Schools

Schools practicing stress reduction activities are proven to lower the percentage of stress,

depression linked to stress, and behavioral problems. A website promoting mindfulness based

stress reduction called Mindful Schools holds courses directed towards students and conducts

annual surveys about the students growth. According to the websites findings, they notice an

83% improvement in the students focus (Mindful Schools). Enhancing ones ability to focus is

beneficial with managing stress because focusing and being aware of what is happening around

ones self is what mindfulness is about and with practice it's can ease the stress (Robb-Nicholson,

M.D.).

There are countless articles about the success rate in schools regarding holistic stress

reduction methods and organizations are proving them year after year with their findings. David

Lynch, the founder of the David Lynch Foundation, has transformed the lives of many through

his research of meditation since the opening in 2005. His foundation promotes transcendental

meditation to the youth in classrooms. On his website, he talks about a school in Detroit that was

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part of a mediation research conducted by Rita Benn, PhD and her team from the University of

Michigan and monitored over 140 students during quiet time for two, 15-minute periods. They

came to the conclusion that those who meditated were less stressed and excelled in their classes.

To build onto the findings from the University of Michigan , David Lynch did research of his

own and found a 40% reduction in psychological distress, including chronic stress, anxiety and

depression during quiet time amongst the students (Lynch). Significant changes in academics and

behavior were showed with just 15-minutes of silence. The teens who partook in the

transcendental meditation where able to apply this holistic stress reduction method on a daily

basis and reported back to researchers on how it had a positive influence on their school work

and overall attitude.

Guided meditations specifically are part of a fast growing trend in education. Countless

schools around the nation have given mindfulness based meditations much attention in the past 5

years response to the enormous pressures students are facing said Dr. Dzung Vo, the author of

"The Mindful Teen." A passionate psychologist Violaine Gueritault and french teacher at

Marblehead High School in Massachusetts started offering morning meditation sessions two

times a week before classes. The success in her sessions got the school to invest in Mrs.

Gueritault own Zen room which will be open the entire school day. The principal, Mr.

Millington, stated the climate at the school is much better after implementing mindfulness.

They were able to see this stress in the behavior of their students and it also showed through their

academic performances, thus allowing them to find effective ways to eliminate the problem. The

student seemed more calm as weeks followed because with stress, people do not realize the

amount of stress they are under until someone shows them.

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 Counter Argument

Some may feel that practicing mindfulness based stress reduction activities is a way to

sneak Buddhism into schools. They believe this to be true because the United States Supreme

Court has found it unconstitutional for public schools to teach religious practices yet mindfulness

meditations, a practice similar to Buddhism prayer, is promoted in schools. However, such is not

the case. Mindfulness may be promoted, but not mandatory to be practiced by students. The

choice is fully in the hands of those who need assistance in keeping their stress under their

control. Although mindfulness has roots of Buddhism, a secular, meaning non religious, practice

has been an American mainstream though Jon Kabat-Zinns Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

program he launched at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979 (What Is

Mindfulness?). Mindfulness meditation may have origins of ancient Asian rituals, but there are

secular practices available to those who are not affiliated with a particular religion.

Aside from sneaking religion into school, they might argue that there is simply no time in

the day to keep up with daily lesson plans and practice MBSA in a given school day. With

mindfulness one can practice for 5 minutes or 55 minutes; there are no restrictions. What matters

is that you are practicing because the overall benefits of meditation truly outway the cost and

teachers are not the only witnesses to these evident changes. Even if the students might be losing

5-10 of class time to fit in a session, their health and mental state are guaranteed to thank them in

the future and make them more productive during the time they are in class.

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 Conclusion

In brief, stress is bound to gradually increase in high school students owing to numerous

factors and ultimately impeding their ability to succeed academically and maintain their health.

Chronic stress left unattended is sure to negatively affect students physical and mental state,

some of which are cognitive function, muscle tension, and crippling anxiety. There are secular

practices taught and the choice is ultimately up to the students if they wish to participate. In order

to improve the academic, mental and physical condition of students in our community, it is

essential to promote positive outlets of stress such as mindfulness based stress reduction

(MBSR), yoga and meditation. These coping techniques are highly effective and proven to be

successful by many researchers in managing stress and anxiety amongst adolescent students.

Works Cited

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