Meditation is now being offered in many schools across the US. However, it is not just something useful to students. We can probably all imagine just how stressful a teachers job is, well recent research has shown that transcendental Meditation (TM) helps to substantially alleviate teacher burnout.
In fact, “the four-month study found significant and clinically important decreases in perceived stress, emotional exhaustion associated with teacher burnout, and depressive symptoms in those practicing the TM program compared to a wait-list control group.”
You can read more in the article below from the David Lynch Foundation.
Hope you enjoy ~ Anthony
TM Can Decrease Teacher Burnout: New Research
A new study published in The Permanente Journal (Vol. 18, No.1) shows the Transcendental Meditation technique can substantially reduce teacher burnout.
Research indicates that stress and burnout are pervasive problems among employees, with teachers being especially vulnerable to unsustainable levels of job stress. Burnout, a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and job dissatisfaction, has been found to contribute to lower teacher performance and higher absenteeism and job turnover rates.
This current study sought to determine whether practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program results in lower psychological distress and decreased burnout in teachers and support staff at the Bennington School in Vermont, a special in-residence school for students with behavioral problems.
According to Dr. Charles Elder, MD, MPH, lead author of the study and a Senior Physician in the Department of Internal Medicine at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, “The results of this randomized controlled trial are very striking and demonstrate the utility of introducing a stress reduction program for teachers and other public and private employees. The four-month study found significant and clinically important decreases in perceived stress, emotional exhaustion associated with teacher burnout, and depressive symptoms in those practicing the TM program compared to a wait-list control group.”
Prior medical research has found that practice of the TM program is effective in reducing both risk factors for heart disease and cardiovascular events.
The study included 40 teachers and support staff measured at baseline and then randomly assigned to either immediate start of the TM program or delayed start (wait-list control group). Compliance with practice of the TM technique throughout the four-month intervention period was high; 100% of the participants assigned to the TM group meditated at least once a day. Of those, 56% meditated regularly at home twice a day.
This is the first study to investigate the effects of Transcendental Meditation on teacher burnout. Recent published studies have shown a positive impact of this program on student graduation rates, academic achievement, and psychological distress. Transcendental Meditation has seen widespread implementation in secondary schools across the country within the context of school-wide Quiet Time programs.
Learn More:
Read the Full Abstract on Permanente Journal
