Meditation should be a required daily practice for students K-12. The practice of mindfulness meditation has recently become an interest of study for researchers. The research has confirmed that many benefits come from the practice of meditating. These benefits include improved attention spans which help reduce symptoms of ADHD, a decline in anxiety and depression, and an increase in happiness and calmness. I began meditating during my Junior year of highschool, in preparation for taking the standardized tests. Dealing with stress, especially on the day of a big exam, was difficult for me. My apprehension would skyrocket on days of the SAT and would deter me from receiving the usual high grades I would get on practice exams. It wasn’t until my SAT tutor, who was also a trained meditation instructor, introduced me to the practice of meditating. Before I began the exam, while sitting in my seat I would meditate. This meditation helped lessen my nerves and calmed me down. It brought me to a calmer state of mind, by allowing me to focus and think about something else. Taking the time to meditate before classes start can have a major impact on the well-being of students. Students would learn how to better handle their stress and be able to carry this with them throughout their life. Due to these undeniable benefits, I believe mindfulness meditation should be mandatory for schools across the country in grades K-12. Ideally, the meditation should be taught by a program, not by the student’s teacher. Incorporating meditation into the normal school day would positively benefit all students.

Overall teenagers in particular, face a lot of changes as they get older and need positive ways to handle their stress. Whether it be facing trouble at home academically or socially, teenagers register the highest levels of stress out of any age group in the country. This stress leaves the individual’s mental health to deteriorate, especially if they don’t know how to correctly handle it.  It’s impossible for a school system to know the troubles a student may face outside of school. Giving them the opportunity to meditate would help them deal with these outside stressors. Meditation would be a crucial aspect in helping students mental health. Alice Walton, a doctor and Forbes contributor, informs us, “when kids are living with really bad situations outside of school, their bodies and minds are so overwrought as a result, that it’s virtually impossible for them to sit in class and learn.” In order to help these children, schools need to intervene and provide meditation before the school day starts.

Due to all the stress students are facing, mental disorders are starting to become more common. According to a 2010 Johns Hopkins study, a quarter of American adolescents suffer from a mental disorder. Meditating has been seen as an effective treatment for people facing poor mental health, mainly anxiety and depression. Research “found that the number of 10- and 13-year-old children who were categorised at pre-test into the “borderline” and “abnormal” categories of emotional problems and depression significantly decreased at the post-test following 10 weeks of mindfulness meditation.” I was astonished by this fact and it made me question why meditation isn’t already required by all schools.

Not only does meditation help anxiety and depression, but studies of meditation have been proven to increase attention. This result is due to the fact that meditation “is a mental training, which involves attention and the ability to maintain focus on a particular object.”  Additionally, “brain-imaging studies at Harvard and Mass General Hospital have shown that long-term mindfulness training can help thicken the cortical regions related to attention and sensory processing.” This being said, it has been an effective treatment for people with ADHD who “act without thinking, are hyperactive, and have trouble focusing.” My brother, who suffers with ADHD, recently started meditating every day just over two years ago. He is training through an online program called Headspace. When asked about his experience, he described it as “…enriching, it really has helped improve my focusing skills. At first, it was very difficult for me and I even fell asleep a couple of times. Now, it completely relaxes me and helps me continue on throughout my day with less distractions.” This leads me to believe, that meditation would really be beneficial to all people facing different issues, including those with ADHD. Meditation is seen as an efficient practice for people with poor attention skills.

Today, mindfulness meditation practice has begun to be a big focus for people looking to relieve stress. Through research, my experience, and my brothers, I have seen first hand the positive effects of meditation. These experiences and studies have shown me that there is a plethora of benefits to meditating. These benefits include a decrease in anxiety and depression and a better attention span. A top priority of school districts should be their students mental health; therefore, I think school districts need to consider implementing the practice of mindfulness meditation to better off their students.