Managing stress and making healthy choices is a daily struggle for many of us. But what if way back in elementary school we had learned resiliency skills and mind-body practices to cope with anxiety, reduce incidents of bulling and violence, and boost our cognitive ability? Would this training have helped us keep our flight-or-fight response in check and live healthier lives?
A four-year study conducted by researchers at Stanford aims to answer these questions. The project will evaluate a yoga-based health and wellness program involving 3,400 students at the Ravenswood City School District. The program, which has been funded for three years by the Sonima Foundation, includes exercise-based on yoga, basic fitness regimes, relaxation techniques, mindfulness practices and nutrition. As the San Jose Mercury News reports:
The plan is to employ a multi-method approach that involves biology, physiology and psychology -- a complete bio-psychosocial assessment -- to measure [students'] emotions and behavior, academic and cognitive strengths and weaknesses, brain activity and structure, stress-related hormone levels, and sleep patterns.
"We're really looking forward to a year from now -- when I tell you this is effective -- for you not to only take it on my word, but for you to also have data," said Dr. Victor Carrion, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at [Stanford].
Carrion is also the director of the Stanford Early Life Stress and Pediatric Anxiety Program at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
In 2012, he launched a mindfulness program in the Ravenswood City School District to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in teens that was featured on a PBS NewsHour segment. Jones and his wife happened to catch the broadcast, and because Carrion has done pro bono work with students and parents in the community for years, the partnership between the district, Stanford and the Sonima Foundation was forged.
The four-year study is also in partnership with the Center for Education Policy and Law at the University of San Diego.
"This is something that for years has been a gap in our educational system," Carrion said. "There's nothing... that teaches children to socialize and to be in touch with their emotions and to take care of their inner health."
Previously: Stanford researchers use yoga to help underserved youth manage stress and gain focus, Yoga classes may boost high-school students' mental well-being and Study shows meditation may lower teens' risk of developing heart disease
Photo by Nicole Mark
