Teaching educators mindfulness may help them cope with classroom-related stress, finds a study in the August Journal of Educational Psychology.
Researchers led by Robert W. Roeser, a psychologist at Portland State University in Oregon tracked the stress levels of 113 K-12 teachers in the United States and Canada, 54 of whom attended eight weeks of training in guided yoga, group discussions of mindfulness, and practice in real-life scenarios.
While there were no differences between the participating and control groups in biological-stress indicators, 87 percent of teachers who participated in the mindfulness training reported lower levels of teaching stress and burnout as well as fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression.
