If you’re looking for a way to destress from virtual classes, COVID-19 fatigue, your summer jobs, or whatever, look no further than SMU’s Meditation Study. It’s free and you will be compensated with the use of the meditation app for one year. The deadline for registration is June 17, 2020.

Study Details

Sign up for the SMU Meditation Study through June 17.

SMU’s Institute for Leadership Impact is conducting an Engaged Learning study on reducing stress through meditation. The study is free, lasts 6 weeks, and requires only 10-20 minutes per day. Students will be compensated with a year-long subscription to a meditation app. Students wishing to participate must sign up no later than June 17.

All you have to do is spend a little time each day for 30 days meditating using a meditation app. The study is conducted remotely, so you can do it from anywhere. The study has already been underway for a couple of months, but the last two cohorts are being enrolled now.

All people experience stress on a daily basis, and there are goods kinds of stress and bad kinds of stress. Psychology students clearly understand what that means. Life has become a little more hectic than usual lately, so learning how to properly meditate is a great idea. Kaitlyn Contreras Castro, SMU Engaged Learning scholar and Institute for Leadership Impact Research Assistant, is conducting this study for her Engaged Learning project. No experience with meditation is required.

Engaged Learning

SMU’s Office of Engaged Learning is a campus-wide initiative to enhance student learning with experimental learning opportunities.

Kaitlyn is working with Dr. Eric G. Bing, Institute for Leadership Impact Director and professor of global health in the Department of Applied Physiology & Wellness in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development and in the Department of Anthropology in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, and Claire Trotter, Ph.D. student in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness. 

Meditation helps you reduce stress and anxiety, enhances relaxation techniques, mindfulness, and unwinding at the end of a long day. It really is just taking a little extra time for yourself and your mental health. Studies have shown that meditation helps with overall happiness, self-compassion, and even productivity. It reduces background noise that can overpower much of one’s usual daily tasks, improve your immune system by balancing your stress levels, improve attention and focus, and give your mind a little break.

The Mayo Clinic suggests that the emotional benefits of meditation include gaining a new perspective on stressful situations, building skills to manage stress, increasing self-awareness, focusing on the present, reducing negative emotions, increasing imagination and creativity and increasing patience and tolerance. Also, meditation can improve underlying medical conditions such as chronic pain, depression, sleep problems and more.

Sign Up Today

To sign up for the SMU Meditation Study, click here. Deadline is June 17,

For more information, click here.