Schools are recognizing that children today are experiencing more anxiety and stress than ever before. Research is highlighting this growing concern:
• The percentage of children aged 5-17 using antidepressants more than doubled between 1993 and 2003, according to research by Kaiser Permanente.
• According to the Department of Health & Human Services, mental health problems affect one in every five young people at any given time, and the rate of depression among adolescents may be as high as one in eight. Researchers have also found that among 9- to 17-year-olds, as many as 13 of every 100 young people have an anxiety disorder, and these children often have more than one disorder.
It’s no wonder that the easily learned TM technique is being increasingly adopted to help reverse this alarming trend—and it’s making national news.
Here are some excerpts from ABC’s May 21st news story, Meditation Helps Kids Chill Out, Reduce Impulsivity:
The words “zen” and “child” don’t exactly go together, but that hasn’t stopped a growing number of parents from “ohm schooling” their kids in the art of yoga, meditation and relaxation….
Teaching meditation to children has attracted some high-profile advocates….
Film director David Lynch started a foundation eight years ago to provide scholarships for school-age children all over the world to study Transcendental Meditation.
A study of more than 3,000 children in the San Francisco Unified School District found a dramatic improvement in math test scores and overall academic performance among students who practiced Transcendental Meditation, a form of mediation that promotes relaxation and “an awakening” of the mind. The study also found a decrease in student suspensions, expulsions and dropout rates.
Children today are certainly more stressed out than their parents likely realize. One in five children said they worried a lot or a great deal about things going on in their lives, and more than 30 percent admitted to such stress-related symptoms as difficulty sleeping, according to the American Psychological Association’s annual Stress in America report. Yet, the same report found that only 8 percent of parents were aware that their children experienced any stress at all.
To learn more about the David Lynch Foundation’s Quiet Time/Transcendental Meditation program for school children, go to: http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/schools.html