Using Mindfulness Meditation to improve Academic Performance and
Mental Health among Nursing Students
Nursing students report higher levels of anxiety than the overall population of college students, in part due to heavy course loads, rigorous exams, long hours of clinical experiences, and ongoing pressure to get good grades in a very competitive environment. The educational goals of the academic nursing program are to cultivate students’ creative and critical thinking abilities and promote continuous self-development (Song, Y., et al 2015). Thus, nursing students must not only endure burdensome theoretical learning, but also experience clinical practice. Myriad stressors exist in nursing students’ experiences, including meeting professional
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According to American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) (2009), “one third of nursing students experience stress severe enough to induce mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.” Therefore, it is imperative that we address these high levels of distress among nursing students, since excessive anxiety in nursing students can have negative health, academic, and patient care outcomes, as well as impact future role transition into professional practice; including burnout and poor job performance (Foureur, M., et al., 2013). One method that has been investigated to improve nursing students’ mental health is mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness meditation is derived from Vipassana meditation in Buddhism, which is defined as a process of focusing one’s mind in the present moment, maintaining a nonjudgmental attitude, and detaching from destructive thoughts and feelings (Dryden & Still, 2006). Nursing Students can …show more content…
Variants of mindfulness meditation have been incorporated into Western psychology and have shown evidence of improving mental health (Goyal et al., 2014). For example, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programs have been effective in alleviating depression, anxiety, and chronic pain (Kabat-Zinn, J., et al., 1992). Moreover, increased mindfulness has been found to be related to improved psychological functions, and it led to reductions in suffering; it has been shown to be an important predictor of depression in nursing students (Ratanasiripong et al.,
Foley (2016) recommends a method called The Doorway Assessment as a tool to help nursing students overcome the anxiety many of them experience on their first day of clinical. Foley (2016) describes The Doorway Assessment
In Eastern cultures, meditation has been practiced for over two thousand years. Through this training a culture has developed in which an individual is empowered to engaged in preventative behaviors, which reduce stress and morbidity, resulting in a general state of wellbeing, with stability and mental peace in the face of everyday challenges (Richardson and Lutz, 2008). Over the last half-century, the western-scientific community has begun to evaluate the efficacy of the eastern methods of meditation. In the modern western world there is an over abundance of stress, pressure and over stimulation. These conditions often result in stress-related morbidity, high levels of anxiety and mental illnesses. This cause and effect relationship is well established, and typically emphasis is placed on symptom control and less on preventative behavior modification. There are clinically documented see table 1, meditation practices that can be taught over a short period of time to an individual which have been shown to have positive results. Meditation can be used preventatively in supporting immune function and during illness as a method to aid healing and wellbeing for nominal costs. This paper will make an literary examination of a variety of studies of which examine the role of meditation training in regards to promoting immune function in athletes, recovering cancer patients, in addition to reducing stress and promoting well being in business professionals, cancer patients and seasoned meditation practitioners.
Mindfulness is a concept or practice that was founded nearly 2600 years ago. It is a very integral component of the Buddhist faith and is believed to be associated with many benefits including self-control, tolerance, flexibility, objectivity, concentration, mental clarity, emotional intelligence, kindness, compassion, acceptance, and equanimity.
Impulse control and decision-making, both executive functions, are believed to center in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994). Damage to this area increases deficits in decision making (Bechara et. al.,1994). Research has shown that chronic heroin use negatively impacts an individual’s ability to restrain impulses, leading to lack of planning and decreased adaptive and social cognition (Pau, Lee, & Chan, 2001). Heroin is a powerful opiate that crosses the blood-brain barrier and produces potent euphoria (Pau, Lee, & Chan, 2001). Impulse control is defined as an individual’s tendency to act on arising wishes or urges (Murphy & Mackillop, 2012). Greater mindfulness has been shown to decrease substance dependent individuals’ urge to use substances (Murphy & Mackillop, 2012). Mindfulness focuses on the emphasis on staying in the present moment, the natural impermanence of things in an individual’s environment, and the awareness of actions such as noticing what is experienced without judgment or reactive behavior (Murphy & Mackillop, 2012). Research on the implementation of mindfulness techniques and their ability to decrease impulsivity is necessary in order to examine the ways heroin-dependent adults react cognitively, behaviorally, and physiologically to external stimuli.
For thousands of years people have practiced mediation for spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. Albeit there are many mediation types, in this paper I will be discussing and focusing on mindfulness mediation. Before further exploring mindfulness mediation, it is crucial to define mediation as a whole. Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016 state “Meditation can be defined as a form of mental training that aims to improve an individual’s core psychological capacities, such as attentional and emotional capacities” (p.213). Having that in mind, we can dive into mindfulness mediation. Mindfulness meditation is defined as “nonjudgmental attention to present-moment experiences (Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016).” A useful analogy to consider is going to the gym, going to the gym allows one to enhance the body, well similarly, practicing mindfulness is akin to taking the mind to the psychic gym, it enhances it. Mindfulness meditation involves focusing on your breathing and then bringing your mind’s attention to the present all while dismissing discursive thoughts and maintaining a special focus on breathing.
OK. So you’ve heard, that meditation is beneficial for you, maybe you’ve read lists about the advantages of meditation. A ton of different kind of meditations are on-line, and you found several resources, articles, blog posts about the theme to select from. These articles state, that the meditation has countless benefits, which are also proven by scientific research. You can believe them, since eminent scientists carried out extensive research on this subject. And they suggest, you should try them, and of course you should practice it each day. Every day - or you won’t have those benefits.
Clinical confidence, and independence are two components of nursing practice such that cannot be perfected through classroom education, self-study or by reading the evidence based literature. Throughout my nursing education, I have struggled with as many of clinical instructors have put it “being too hard on myself”. Morrell & Ridgway (2014) highlight how students’ perception of a lack of knowledge often contributes to ongoing anxiety. My tendency of being highly critical of my abilities, and having a consistent sense of anxiety associated with practicing independently has been an ongoing challenge for me. Reflecting upon how I have coped with the challenges of developing, and maintaining clinical confidence is
As new nursing graduates begin the process of transitioning into the nursing practice. There are many challenges and issues associated throughout the transition. New graduates may embark on their journey through a graduate program or seek employment solo. The transition period may consist of challenges, that students will encounter during their journey. This essay will identify, discuss, and critically reflect on key nursing challenges that student nurses may face, throughout the process of the transition phase.
Throughout history, Buddhist monks and the eastern religion have been performing meditation, but recently, many people in different societies have been practicing meditation for relaxation and health purposes. Meditation is a practice that allows someone to train their mind to be in a state of consciousness that aids their mind and body in a positive way (Aldahadha). Meditation is about paying attention, focusing, and being extremely relaxed. It strengthens a person’s creativity and performance while enhancing relationships (Aldahadha). Meditators find that during meditation, their body and mind can freely absorb what is around them; this allows a person to have less anxiety. People that meditate are more direct, absorb life easier, are less tense and stressed, have increased memory and learning, are happier, have better cognitive skills, produce positive changes in gray matter density in their brains (related to memory and learning), and have increased emotional regulation as well as increased self-awareness ("The Science behind Meditation, and Why It Makes You Feel Better"). Someone that meditates on a consistent basis also has an increased attention span and has better physical health ("The Science behind Meditation, and Why It Makes You Feel Better"). Another positive effect of meditating is that it decreases someone’s chances of psychological disorders ("The Science behind Meditation, and Why It Makes You Feel Better").
Buddhist Guided Meditation | Beginning Buddhist MeditationCount the many benefitsBuddhist Guided Meditation is among the most ideal ways to maintain and preserve mental, spiritual and physical health, cleansing yourself of the troubles, worries and emotional toxins that plague you on a daily basis. By meditating, you can achieve a rare sense of newness and wholeness (much like a vigorous round of exercise), a sense of fulfillment (much like nourishing food) and a rare, complete sense of renewal and revitalization (like the feeling produced by a good night’s sleep, or by a session of intense reflection). In other words, you can achieve a multitude of positive effects by way of one simple, essential practice. Meditation is a daily practice that costs you nothing, and that can bring you a good deal of relaxation, enlightenment, elation and fulfillment. Many people report their lives changed as the result of this transformative practice;
Mindfulness and Christian Devotional Meditation Mindfulness, derived from Buddhist, is a meditation aimed at creating more self-awareness with acceptance and self-compassion as the primary focus. Fernando Garzon, PsyD, contributed an article to Society for Christian Psychology on the differences between this popular practice in Psychology as well as Christian Devotional Meditation. Although both appear beneficial in treating patients and helping them overcome negative emotions, Christian Devotional Meditation looks at God and Scripture as well as self-experience. Although many Christian Psychologists are trained in mindfulness meditation for behavioral training, stress reduction, or acceptance and commitment therapy with observable results,
Buddhism is a spiritual tradition that focuses on self-spiritual development. There are million of people worldwide who practice this religion. Buddhist do not believe in one personal god. Buddhist seeks to reach a state if “nirvana” to the Buddhist this means a perfect place of peace and happiness like Heaven. Nirvana is the highest state to attain, this is a state of enlightenment which means a persons desire and suffering will go away.
10-Minute Mindfulness appeals to me because I am at a time in my life where peace and
There was a study conducted by Gibbons, Dempster, and Moutray (2011) that addressed stress, coping and satisfaction in nursing students by taking a deeper look into how different stress sources and coping resources affected the stress and psychological well being of the students. The findings suggested, “initiatives to promote support and self-efficacy are likely to have immediate benefits for student well-being”(Gibbon et al., 2011). The most helpful finding when applying the study to myself was considering eustress, instead of negative stress as an important way to encourage and support self-efficacy (Gibbon et al., 2011).
Oshita, D., Hattori, K., & Iwakuma, M. (2013). A Buddhist-based meditation practice for care and healing: An introduction and its application. International Journal Of Nursing Practice, 15-23. doi:10.1111/ijn.12040