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In adults, mindfulness has been shown to have all kinds of amazing effects throughout the body: it can combat stress<\/a>,protect your heart<\/a>, shorten migraines<\/a> and possibly even extend life. But a new trial<\/a>published in the journalDevelopmental Psychology<\/em>suggests that the effects are also powerful in kids as young as 9\u2014so much so that improving mindfulness showed to improve everything from social skills to math score.<\/p>\n In the mindfulness classrooms, the program incorporated sense-sharpening exercises like mindful smelling and mindful eating, along with cognitive mindfulness exercises like seeing an issue from another\u2019s point of view. Children did a three-minute meditation three times a day focusing on their breathing. They also acted on their lessons by practicing gratitude and doing kind things for others.<\/span>The study authors put 99 4th and 5th grade public school students in British Columbia into one of two groups. One group received four months of the mindfulness program, and the other got four months of a standard \u201csocial responsibility\u201d program already used in Canadian public schools.<\/span><\/p>\n For the four months, researchers analyzed all kinds of in-depth measures, like behavioral assessments, cortisol levels, children\u2019s self-reports of their own wellbeing, reviews from their peers about sociability and the objective academic scores of math grades.<\/p>\n The results were dramatic. \u201cI really did not anticipate that we would have so many positive findings across all the multiple levels we looked at,\u201d says study co-author Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, a developmental psychologist at the University of British Columbia. \u201cI was very surprised,\u201d she says\u2014especially considering that the intervention took place at the end of the year, notoriously the worst time for students\u2019 self-control.<\/p>\n Compared to the kids in the social responsibility program, children with the mindful intervention had 15% better math scores, showed 24% more social behaviors, were 24% less aggressive and perceived themselves as 20% more prosocial. They outperformed their peers in cognitive control, stress levels, emotional control, optimism, empathy, mindfulness and aggression.<\/p>\n The program also may have had an unintended effect\u2014one the researchers didn\u2019t measure, but now want to. \u201cAnecdotally, teachers tell us that the program helped them calm down more\u2014by doing the program and integrating these mindful attention practices and being more aware and thinking more about others, that they actually become less stressed,\u201d Schonert-Reichl says. \u201cThat has huge implications, and a further area of research is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n More research is needed, but mindfulness interventions like these are promising. \u201cDoing these kinds of programs in school does not take away from academics,\u201d Schonert-Reichl says. \u201cIt adds to a growing research literature that\u2019s showing, actually, these kinds of programs and practices increase academic gains. By adding this on, you not only create more academically capable, successful students, but actually create more caring, less stressed, kind students.\u201d<\/p>\n