Is your teenager struggling with anxiety? Most likely, the answer is yes. Teens are the most stressed group of people in America today.
Is the worry about grades, getting into college, SAT’s & ACT’s, school activities, social life, and relationships just getting to be too much? Give your teen some M & M’s! I know what you’re thinking- “Candy for anxiety?” No, let’s not get him/her wired with a sugar high- let’s try my version of M & M’s –
Mindfulness & Meditations.
I know you’ve heard of mindfulness and maybe you’ve even tried meditation. Mindfulness is being in the moment without judgment. Meditation is one of the many tools that can be used to achieve mindfulness. M & M’s can be highly effective antidotes to all the pressures your teen faces day in and day out.
In this fast- paced, demanding world that we live in, teens rush from one activity to the next, unaware of how they feel in any given moment. Mindfulness helps teens slow down, take a breath, and tune into themselves and the world around them. Meditation is one of the many ways to get them feeling calm, mindful, and present. It can be done in any quiet space in your house or in nature. It involves closing the eyes, turning inward and noticing breath, thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations. The benefits can be felt quickly- sometimes within just a few short minutes!
So what are the benefits?
- Mindfulness reduces anxiety symptoms. It decreases the size of the amygdala, the area of the brain that is responsible for stress, anxiety, and fear. It also gives teens a break from technology, which can be a major source of stress!
- Mindfulness improves focus. It decreases activity in the Default Mode Network (DMN), the area of the brain that controls mind wandering.
- Mindfulness reduces depressive symptoms. Research findings indicate that meditation can be just as effective as anti-depressants to boost one’s mood, and to motivate us to act with kindness and compassion.
- Mindfulness improves memory, learning, and emotional regulation. It increases the cortical thickness in the hippocampus region of the brain, which results in greater school, work, and social success.
- Mindfulness helps test performance. Studies show that students who meditate before an exam perform better than students who do not.
- Mindfulness improves sleep. Current findings indicate that teens who practice mindfulness regularly achieve greater total sleep time, better quality sleep, and more alertness during the day.
- Mindfulness cultivates compassion & empathy for others.
As you can see, the research informs us that M & M’s should be an essential part of the “wellness diet” for teens. So how do you help them get this type of nourishment? Individual therapy sessions are the perfect place for teens to learn about mindfulness and meditation, and to begin integrating these practices into their lives! The most stressed out teen can start seeing results very quickly when they are working with a therapist (like me!) who incorporates M & M’s into their treatment plan.