Meditation lowers stress and supports forgiveness

In college students, meditation-based stress-management practices reduce stress and enhance forgiveness, according to this study by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley.

First, the details.

• The effects of two 8-week, 90-minutes/week training programs of meditation-based stress-management tools were evaluated for changes in stress, rumination, forgiveness, and hope.
• 44 college undergraduates were trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), or Easwaran’s Eight-Point Program (EPP), or assigned to await-list control group.
• Results from a pretest, posttest, and 8-week follow-up data on self-report outcome measures were collected.

And, the results.

• There were no differences between MBSR and EPP.
• Compared to controls, treated participants demonstrated significant benefits for stress and forgiveness.

The bottom line?
The authors recommend that MBSR and EPP “merit further study as potential health-promotion tools for college populations.”

4/11/08 22:00 JR