RADP 210 Podcast Raffin

Mindfulness-based interventions can help university students deal with mental fatigue and burnout. A study in China showed that participants who practiced mindfulness meditation reported increased mindfulness and decreased burnout compared to those who did not. Another systematic review and meta-analysis found that mindfulness-based interventions were effective in reducing stress in medical students across six different studies. Additionally, a study on university students found that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy improved academic grit, passion, and perseverance. Overall, practicing mindfulness for about 30 minutes a day, 3-5 times a week, can prevent burnout and help individuals achieve their goals with tenacity and enthusiasm. Good morning, and welcome to Capping for the Soul, a journey to wellness and rehabilitation. I'm your host, Heather Raffensperger, mom, chicken whisperer, and student at Capilano University. The podcast where each week we grab our favorite mug, fill it with a steaming cup of coffee, and together we have some laughs while we journey into rehabilitation and wellness. Today we are asking the question, what is the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions on university students in dealing with mental fatigue, burnout? And to answer this question, we are going to use evidence-based research. Now before we start looking at our scientific article, let's define what do I mean by mental fatigue and burnout. This is just referring to that feeling when your stress levels are skyrocketing and you can feel your well-being deteriorating. You feel fatigued and exhausted, and you may even begin to have increased feelings of anxiety and depression. And what do I mean by mindfulness-based interventions and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy? It's simply looking at the concepts of mindfulness, say in Buddhism, and are most defined as awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose in the present moment and not judgmentally to the unfolding experience moment by moment. You can be doing this by yoga, tai chi, going for a walk, or just meditating. So the first scientific article I looked at was, do mindfulness-based interventions reduce burnout of college students in China? A randomized controlled trial by R. Geng, J. Yu, and S. Chen, 2023. In this article, 128 college students were randomized into an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group consisted of having a one-and-a-half-hour, one-week small group session in a quiet, spacious, comfortable area to practice meditation. Then, the same intervention group, the subjects were required to practice mindfulness meditation outside the group meeting for six days a week for at least half an hour per day. And at the end of the study, the participants in the intervention group reported a significant increase in mindfulness and a decrease in burnout compared to those in the control group who did not do any of these. So you might be wondering, okay Heather, that's just one scientific study. Can't I just go home and watch Netflix? Well, let's look at our second article. This one was called Mindfulness-Based Interventions Reducing and Preventing Stress and Burnout in Medical Students. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, 2022, by C. Takaseri and K. Monerant. In this article, researchers looked at six separate studies that compared the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions. The sample size across the studies was 689 medical students. All these studies examined the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions for stress and burnout. The programs shared similar principles as well for doing things such as body scanning, awareness of thoughts and emotions, doing breathing exercises, walking, meditating, and coping with stress. And once again, the results showed that mindfulness-based interventions are effective in reducing subjective stress in medical students. The results were remarkably consistent across the six. This is despite that the interventions having been undertaken were in completely different countries and there was variations in length and components, they still saw very similar results. Okay, friends, we're almost at the end there. One more scientific article that we looked at was the Effect of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Occupant Stress Among University Students, by R. Toledeli, L.P. Mello, 2023. Yes, friends, I'm talking about that getting it done feeling, that remarkable dual blend of resilience, perseverance, and tenacity. It's that unyielding determination to keep pushing forward, even in the face of obstacles, setbacks, and challenges. In my opinion, if you are suffering from mental fatigue and burnout, a student's amount of grit is going to be all you get. So what did this article show us? This article investigates the effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on university students. It explored how practicing mindfulness may influence student's well-being, stress levels, and academic performance. This study aimed to examine the efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in improving academic grit among university students. 13 students with low scores of grit participated in a six-session Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in a group format. Pre-test and post-test scores of academic grit consisting of passion and perseverance were compared. And what do you know? The results once again showed a significant improvement in academic grit and an increase in passion and perseverance. In finishing up, we can conclude that Mindfulness-Based Training Programs in groups and then at home can effectively prevent student burnout and assist individuals in achieving life's goals with tenacity and enthusiasm. Mindfulness-Based Interventions done for about 30 minutes per day, 3-5 times a week, seems to be that nice sweet spot. And I hope you take the time to practice the Mindfulness-Based Interventions and then we'll check back tomorrow next week with another fun question. Bye!