All of us experience stress and, while it’s not always a bad thing (e.g., starting a new school year, preparing for a trip or a performance), it is important to learn how to manage stress in a healthy way.
Rat Park refers to a scientific experiment in the late 1970s that called into question the common understanding of addictive drugs. Professor Bruce Alexander and his students at Simon Fraser University showed that living conditions, not drugs, were the issue. Our environment greatly influences whether or not we use drugs, how much we use, how often, and where.
For students, training in mindfulness practice has demonstrated improvements in working memory, attention, academic skills, social skills, emotional regulation, and self-esteem, as well as self-reported improvements in mood and decreases in anxiety, stress, and fatigue.