Mindfulness keeps you balanced

In any given 10-minute walk from lecture to lecture, I’ll find myself worrying about a swiftly approaching midterm, picking up an extra shift at work and planning time for Chipotle with friends — all while flipping through Snapchat stories.

I usually arrive at my next destination more frazzled and less focused than I was at the last class.

There’s an approach to dealing with the stress of daily life called mindfulness, and it emphasizes a conscious approach to life that focuses on slowing down, appreciating the moment and taking care of yourself. While juggling a list of stressors, mindfulness is just what college students need to stay sane.

Schools around the country, such as Harvard, the University of Missouri and our own University of Pittsburgh, are implementing meditation and mindfulness training to help students reach peace and quiet. And it seems to be working — students at Santa Clara University reported higher reductions in stress after taking an eight-week meditation course.

A study from the Frontiers in Human Neuroscience from the University of Miami assigned 58 undergraduate students to two groups: one group received seven weeks of mindfulness training, and the other received no training. The students were tested at the beginning of the semester and again at the end of the semester. The group that received the mindfulness training self-reported higher levels task accuracy and focus by the end of the term.

At Pitt, the Stress Free Zone, located on the third floor of the Union, is dedicated to helping students learn to reduce stress and practice mindfulness. There are walk-in hours throughout the day for private practice and yoga, and sitting meditation classes for those who prefer a more interactive approach.

Meditation is a big part of mindfulness, there’s no getting around it. The goal of meditating is to focus your attention on your physical presence in an attempt to quiet and open up your mind.

Think of it like mental exercise. Just like a workout, it can be hard, but students can garner substantial health benefits.

A 2015 study from UCLA found that long-term meditators had better-preserved brains as they aged than non-meditators. Another study from Yale in 2012  found that mindfulness meditation helped to decrease activity in the default mode network in the brain. This is a brain network responsible for mind-wandering and self-referential thinking, both of which are linked to higher levels of worrying and lower levels of happiness.

If meditation isn’t for you, there are other ways to practice mindfulness.

Walking, eating, breathing or any daily activity can be a great way to personalize your practice. The key is to focus on the physical act of doing the thing. Taking moments throughout the day, before you open your laptop or after taking a sip of coffee, to pause and reflect.

Put your phone and other distractions away and listen fully to a lecture or to your friend.

Reflective writing is another option. Studies have shown that writing improves mood disorders, reduces visits to the doctor and improves memory. One such study from Duke University in 2012 prompted 40 first-year students to write personal narratives about college. The results, published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, showed better grades on a sample test after meditation sessions compared to others in the short term.

Those who wish to dismiss arguments about mindfulness as hippy, new age, self-help nonsense should give it a try first. Mindfulness doesn’t necessarily mean sitting cross-legged on the floor or chanting loudly in a foreign language. It’s merely a conscious determination to pay closer attention to yourself, your body and your mind in an effort to see what it has to tell you.

For me, practicing mindfulness isn’t always easy, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. I focus more efficiently and study better. I listen to my friends and what they have to say much more closely now.

Take a few minutes when you wake up, at lunch or before you go to bed to put the phone away and see what happens when you quiet your mind. Pay attention to the thoughts that float through without dwelling on them and just see what can happen.

I’m still that girl, on occasion, dashing through Cathy while typing an email. At least I’m mindful enough to not fall on my face.

Write to Amber at aem98@pitt.edu