Children taught to practice optimism and to live in moment were less stressed, kinder and better at math than children taught B.C.’s regular social responsibility curriculum, according to a study by researchers at the University of B.C.

Grade 4 and 5 students in Coquitlam were taught a 12-week course called MindUP, an emotional learning program created by actress Goldie Hawn that is loosely based on Buddhist meditation techniques.

Children in the experimental group showed significant improvement in a broad range of measures including their math scores, levels of cortisol in their saliva (an indicator of stress), and their ability to focus attention and regulate emotions.

The MindUP participants reported feeling more optimistic, happier and less depressed, and were rated by their peers as more helpful and trustworthy. Children in the control group worsened in these measures.

The children chosen randomly to receive mindfulness training were given weekly instruction in mindfulness, optimism and neuroscience — how experience shapes our thoughts and rewires the brain. They also performed meditation and breathing exercises three times a day to help them focus on the present, said lead author Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, a developmental psychologist and interim director of the Human Early Learning Partnership at UBC.

“Mindfulness is defined as paying attention in the present moment without judgment,” said Schonert-Reichl. “That could be as simple as listening to the sound of a chime and focusing on your breath or you could do it while washing the dishes, paying attention to how the water feels and the sound of the water, or gardening, feeling and smelling the soil.”

Near the end of the program the children in the MindUP group were also instructed in gratitude and performed acts of kindness.

“We miss so much in our lives worrying about the future or thinking that we shouldn’t have done this or we could have done that,” she said. “Once you become less stressed and more mindful, you are more capable of doing for others.”

Because of the unusual range of measures and analysis employed in the study, Schonert-Reichl teamed up with UBC neuroscientist Adele Diamond and developmental pediatrician Tim Oberlander.

“We were able to examine the effects of the (MindUP) program through multiple lenses and multiple levels of analysis,” she said.

The study, based on research conducted in 2008, was published in the peer-reviewed journal Developmental Psychology.

A followup study of the children in the MindUP group and the control group is underway to assess the durability of the benefits from the program.

rshore@vancouversun.com

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