College and school life are not just dorm parties, lunch dates, and year-end proms. It is stressful. Because of this, many experts suggest introducing meditation to students. Learn more about how meditation can help students of all ages with this simple guided meditation for students.
Introduction
College and school life can be stressful. There is homework, tuition sessions, and parental pressure. If you work, it may seem like a never-ending source of stress. According to NYU, 55% of students say their number one stress source is their academics. Unfortunately, the stress is so bad that six out of 10 could not do anything on one or more occasions. Fortunately, the same study shows students who practice meditation are much less stressed. In this article, you will learn how meditation can help reduce stress in your student life and provide you with sample guided meditations you can follow.
Ways to Eliminate Stress from Student Life
Stress, at the right levels, is not bad for health. Many health professionals say it is good. In some cases, it keeps you alert. But when there is too much stress, it will show up in physical, mental, and emotional symptoms. Therefore, rather than talk about eliminating stress, you should learn how to manage it. Here are some tricks to manage stress in your student life.
Get Enough Sleep
Getting quality and sufficient sleep has many benefits, one of which is reducing stress. It also improves mood, memory, and mental clarity. American Academy of Sleep suggests that college students should sleep at least seven to eight hours a night. High school students should sleep eight to 10 hours, while middle school students should sleep nine to 12 hours each night.
Eat Well
Eating well has so many benefits. It is not just to maintain the right weight and provide you with the necessary nutrition, but it also reduces stress. Foods rich in complex B vitamins are inexpensive yet effective in the treatment of stress. Salmon and leafy green vegetables are naturally rich sources of B Vitamins.
Exercise Regularly
Exercising is beneficial to the body. It keeps the muscles and bones strong. Aside from the physical benefits of exercise, it can also improve your emotional resilience and help you manage stress. Exercise also produces endorphins, the hormone that helps foster relaxation and reduces stress.
Meditate
Meditation has a long list of science-backed benefits, including managing stress. For example, a study published in Behavioral Brain Research in 2018 shows that practicing meditation just 13 minutes a day for eight weeks reduces symptoms of stress such as anxiety, inattentiveness, poor memory, and negative mood.
Benefits of Meditation for Students
Meditation is shown to be one of the most beneficial techniques for relieving stress out there. But, for students of all ages, meditation does not just reduce stress. Here are some of the benefits of meditation that can help you as a student:
Meditation Improves Your Attention
As a student, you know how important attention is to your school life. For example, at school, during discussions, you need to sustain your attention on the lessons your teachers are discussing. Otherwise, you will not learn anything and will likely fail to answer questions from your teachers or in the test papers. Meditation improves your attention by making it easy for you to snap back to the moment your mind wanders.
Makes You Cope Better with Stress
You cannot eliminate stress in your student life or outside school. There will always be things out of your control that will cause you stress, such as an unannounced test. However, meditation can help you as a student in coping with stress because it teaches you that stress is temporary. You will not take it too seriously when you know it is temporary.
Enhances Your Memory
Students go to school to learn. Every day, they must register and encode new information in their memory and consolidate them with old information stored in their memory. Thus, having great memory is necessary to do well in school. However, it will not be easy with all the stress they must face.
Stress can negatively affect memory function. As a result, it negatively impacts the academic performance of students. However, a study by Rebecca Lopez of Walton University in 2019 shows that brief mindfulness intervention in college students can improve memory function by lowering levels of distress. The study’s findings support the importance of incorporating mindfulness meditation and de-stressing exercises inside the classroom.
Improves Your Sleep, Make You Eat Well, and Motivates You to Exercise
Perhaps the best benefit of meditation is that it can motivate you to do the things necessary for your well-being. Eating well, exercising, and sleeping is necessary for regulating stress and improving overall health and wellness. While meditation does not directly make you eat well and exercise, the self-awareness you gain will help you make better decisions.
Ways to Incorporate Meditation into Your Student Life
A student’s life is busy. But do not worry. You can incorporate meditation easily into your day. Here are seven ways you can do it:
Start Slowly
You do not have to sit in meditation for a long time. Your life is already busy, do not make it more complicated by forcing yourself to sit in stillness for 30 minutes a day. You can start with three to five minutes and build up from there. Use your timer so you do not exceed your intended time frame.
Do it Consistently
The key to forming a habit is to do it consistently. Meditate daily and make sure to set a regular time for it. Include it in your morning routine or before bed. But if you forget to do it, do not judge yourself as a failure. Come back to practicing meditation again the next day.
Guided Meditation for Students
Meditation is something personal. You can choose to practice it on your own or with a guide. You might find it easier to practice guided meditation when new to it. Fortunately, there are many free YouTube videos and apps you can use now to guide you into meditation. Here are some of my favorites:
Guided Meditation for Middle & High School students
Classroom Meditation- Quieting Your Busy Mind, Stress Relief, Relaxation, Mindfulness: Do you have only five minutes to spare from your busy student life? If so, this guided meditation for middle and high school students is perfect. It is pretty much straightforward. It teaches you to relax your body and visualize your thoughts as clouds that come and go. You can practice this meditation any time of the day. But I recommend practicing it during your lunch break.
Guided Meditation for High School Students
This guided meditation for high school students is another video I highly recommend. It is perfect for students who are worried about the results of their exams or ashamed of their test scores. It guides you to continue learning and working on getting better scores while giving yourself compassion.
Scripts of Guided Meditation for College Students
Guided Meditation for Studying and Students
This guided meditation is for all college, high school, and middle-school students. Its objective is to de-clutter the mind, so you can focus on studying for your exams. It’s best to do it before you start studying. It is only 15 minutes long, so it will not take too much of your time.
Guided Meditation Affirmations
This video is not a complete meditation guide. But if you have been practicing meditation, you can add affirmations. Doing this will also help you have mental clarity and focus. In addition, this video will give you affirmations that will improve your confidence to pass your exams.
The Bottomline
Are you a student who wants to ace your exams in school or university while managing your stress through meditation? If so, join our 30-day Meditation Challenge followed by our Online Mindfulness TTC Course, and we will help you relax your mind and body to concentrate on achieving your goals.
