NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The practice of transcendental meditation may help children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder manage their symptoms, research suggests. In a pilot study, researchers found that lessons in transcendental meditation, or TM, appeared to calm the anxiety of children with ADHD,and improve their behavior and ability to think and concentrate.
TM is considered to be one of the simplest meditation techniques Practitioners sit comfortably for 10 to 15 minutes with their eyes closed, silently repeating a mantra -- a sound, word or phrase -- to calm the mind and body.
Some researchers believe that meditation affects the nervous system in a way that can alter a range of bodily functions, including breathing, blood vessel dilation and stress-hormone regulation
The current findings indicate that children with ADHD can not only learn the TM technique but also benefit from it, the researchers report in the online journal Current Issues in Education "The effect was much greater than we expected," lead researcher Sarina J Grosswald, a cognitive learning specialist in Arlington, Virginia, "The children also showed improvements in attention, working memory, organization, and behavior regulation," she added
"The study included 10 children between the ages of 11 and 14 who were attending a school for students with language-related learning disabilities. All had been diagnosed with ADHD and, though most were taking medication, were having problems at school and home. "The students were taught the TM technique and then practiced it at and then practiced it at school twice a day, for 10 minutes at a time. After three months, Grosswald and her colleagues found, the students reported lower stress and anxiety levels, while their ADHD symptoms also improved, based on questionnaires given to teachers and parents. "Teachers reported they were able to teach more," Grosswald said, "and students were able to learn more because they were less stressed.
Larger studies, she and her colleagues write, are now needed to see whether TM can be used as an ADHD therapy, either in addition to standard treatment or by itself TM doesn't require concentration, controlling the mind or disciplined " Grosswald noted. "The fact that these children are able to do TM, and do it easily shows us that this technique may be particularly well suited for children with ADHD."
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Why Multitasking Destroys Your Productivity
I'm guilty of multi-tasking and the more I do it the more I find it harder and harder on focusing. “Stressing output is the key to improving productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite.“- Paul Gauguin
Why Multitasking Destroys Your Productivity By Alex Mandossian
Most entrepreneurs I know are proud of their “multitasking” ability. But maybe they shouldn’t be.The term was originally applied to computers - to describe the way a CPU solves problems by scheduling tasks and switching back and forth from task to task until each one gets done. Well, that may be an efficient way for a computer to work, but it’s anything but efficient when it comes to your productivity.Dave Crenshaw wrote my favorite book on the topic, and I recommend it to anyone who still thinks and feels that multitasking is cool. On page 29 in The Myth of Multitasking, he writes:“Around the end of the twentieth century, some wordsmith saw the connection between our increasingly hectic world and the world of the computer. A catchword was born.Newspapers began peppering their articles with the word. Talk show hosts began using it with frequency. Magazines began publishing articles about how to multitask more effectively.Multitasking quickly became as popular and accepted as the automobile and the hamburger.”Dave Crenshaw has a more accurate word to describe flipping back and forth between two (or more) activities. He calls it “switchtasking.”Multitasking or switchtasking reduces your efficiency (your ability to do the right things) and your effectiveness (your ability to do things right) because it forces you to keep changing your mental focus. During the switchover time (less than a second, in most cases), your concentration diminishes and the number of mistakes you make dramatically increases.In fact, many states (including California) have outlawed multitasking on the highway by making it illegal to speak on a handheld mobile phone while driving a car.“A mere half second of time lost to task switching can mean the difference between life and death for a driver using a cellphone, because during the time that the car is not totally under control, it can travel far enough to crash into obstacles the driver might have otherwise avoided,” reported Dr. David Meyer from the University of Michigan.Okay, so let me ask you a candid question. How many of the following common multitasking activities do you engage in?Writing e-mails while speaking on the telephoneChecking voice mail while speaking to your spouseReading the newspaper while listening to the newsWatching TV while having a family conversationTweeting while instant messaging while…I’m guessing you’ve done “all of the above” at some point in your adult life. But my point isn’t to nag you about multitasking. It is to make you conscious of how destructive it can be.It’s not only mentally stressful to splinter your attention (and make mistakes along the way), multitasking sets you up for failure… and the guilt of not completing everything you set out to do.Stacking vs.MultitaskingNow if you do two things at once but can keep the majority of your attention on only ONE of those things, that’s a whole different animal. I call this stacking. Dave Crenshaw calls it background tasking. (You can call it whatever you wish.)Stacking helps you get more done, faster and better. It is a productive use of your time because only ONE of the tasks you are doing requires mental effort.Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:Eating dinner while watching a videoJogging while listening to your iPodDriving while listening to the radioWriting an e-mail while printing out a documentMunching on a snack while riding a bicycleListening to the news while showeringReading a book while getting a haircutStacking doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll become more effective (by doing the right things), but it can practically guarantee more efficiency (doing things right to get maximum results in minimum time).Stacking & America’s Middle ClassHenry Ford didn’t invent the car, but he did figure out how to produce automobiles that were within the reach of the average American. And I believe he did this by preventing his workers from multitasking.Prior to his introduction of the assembly line to the manufacturing process, cars were individually crafted by teams of skilled workmen. But instead of having one team work on one car, from start to finish, he created a stacking environment where the cars came to the workers - and each worker performed the same assembly task again and again.The stacking power of the assembly line reduced the time it took to manufacture a car from 13 hours to less than six. That made it possible for Ford to offer the Model T for $825 when it made its debut in 1908. Four years later, the price dropped to $575. By 1914, Ford claimed a 48 percent share of the world’s automobile market.What to Do NowYou can stop the insanity of multitasking right now by listing (right here) two or three multitasking activities you commonly engage in at work or at home.Then, the next time you catch yourself multitasking, stop. Take a moment to think about what you’re doing, and quickly choose one of those tasks to focus on first. Complete that task before you switch to the other one.I think you’ll find that this automatically makes you more efficient, more effective - and feeling a lot better about yourself for getting multiple jobs done right.
Why Multitasking Destroys Your Productivity By Alex Mandossian
Most entrepreneurs I know are proud of their “multitasking” ability. But maybe they shouldn’t be.The term was originally applied to computers - to describe the way a CPU solves problems by scheduling tasks and switching back and forth from task to task until each one gets done. Well, that may be an efficient way for a computer to work, but it’s anything but efficient when it comes to your productivity.Dave Crenshaw wrote my favorite book on the topic, and I recommend it to anyone who still thinks and feels that multitasking is cool. On page 29 in The Myth of Multitasking, he writes:“Around the end of the twentieth century, some wordsmith saw the connection between our increasingly hectic world and the world of the computer. A catchword was born.Newspapers began peppering their articles with the word. Talk show hosts began using it with frequency. Magazines began publishing articles about how to multitask more effectively.Multitasking quickly became as popular and accepted as the automobile and the hamburger.”Dave Crenshaw has a more accurate word to describe flipping back and forth between two (or more) activities. He calls it “switchtasking.”Multitasking or switchtasking reduces your efficiency (your ability to do the right things) and your effectiveness (your ability to do things right) because it forces you to keep changing your mental focus. During the switchover time (less than a second, in most cases), your concentration diminishes and the number of mistakes you make dramatically increases.In fact, many states (including California) have outlawed multitasking on the highway by making it illegal to speak on a handheld mobile phone while driving a car.“A mere half second of time lost to task switching can mean the difference between life and death for a driver using a cellphone, because during the time that the car is not totally under control, it can travel far enough to crash into obstacles the driver might have otherwise avoided,” reported Dr. David Meyer from the University of Michigan.Okay, so let me ask you a candid question. How many of the following common multitasking activities do you engage in?Writing e-mails while speaking on the telephoneChecking voice mail while speaking to your spouseReading the newspaper while listening to the newsWatching TV while having a family conversationTweeting while instant messaging while…I’m guessing you’ve done “all of the above” at some point in your adult life. But my point isn’t to nag you about multitasking. It is to make you conscious of how destructive it can be.It’s not only mentally stressful to splinter your attention (and make mistakes along the way), multitasking sets you up for failure… and the guilt of not completing everything you set out to do.Stacking vs.MultitaskingNow if you do two things at once but can keep the majority of your attention on only ONE of those things, that’s a whole different animal. I call this stacking. Dave Crenshaw calls it background tasking. (You can call it whatever you wish.)Stacking helps you get more done, faster and better. It is a productive use of your time because only ONE of the tasks you are doing requires mental effort.Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:Eating dinner while watching a videoJogging while listening to your iPodDriving while listening to the radioWriting an e-mail while printing out a documentMunching on a snack while riding a bicycleListening to the news while showeringReading a book while getting a haircutStacking doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll become more effective (by doing the right things), but it can practically guarantee more efficiency (doing things right to get maximum results in minimum time).Stacking & America’s Middle ClassHenry Ford didn’t invent the car, but he did figure out how to produce automobiles that were within the reach of the average American. And I believe he did this by preventing his workers from multitasking.Prior to his introduction of the assembly line to the manufacturing process, cars were individually crafted by teams of skilled workmen. But instead of having one team work on one car, from start to finish, he created a stacking environment where the cars came to the workers - and each worker performed the same assembly task again and again.The stacking power of the assembly line reduced the time it took to manufacture a car from 13 hours to less than six. That made it possible for Ford to offer the Model T for $825 when it made its debut in 1908. Four years later, the price dropped to $575. By 1914, Ford claimed a 48 percent share of the world’s automobile market.What to Do NowYou can stop the insanity of multitasking right now by listing (right here) two or three multitasking activities you commonly engage in at work or at home.Then, the next time you catch yourself multitasking, stop. Take a moment to think about what you’re doing, and quickly choose one of those tasks to focus on first. Complete that task before you switch to the other one.I think you’ll find that this automatically makes you more efficient, more effective - and feeling a lot better about yourself for getting multiple jobs done right.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Is Meditation an Answer to School Problems?
I found this article published at Daily Gleaner. com and I though it was well worth sharing.
Published Tuesday June 2nd, 2009 By JENNIFER DUNVILLE dunville.jennifer@dailygleaner.com
A meditation educator is travelling the province to encourage teachers, parents and principals to buy into a program that uses transcendental meditation to reduce behaviour issues and academic problems in schools.Ashley Deans, a physicist and educator with the Canadian Association for Stress-Free Schools, said 30 minutes of meditation a day can make a big difference in a student's academic success."The transcendental meditation technique is the single most effective technique available for eliminating stress, promoting health and increasing creativity and intelligence," Deans said. "It's not that unconventional since meditation has become more mainstream. Think of it in the context of providing a quiet-time program in schools."The transcendental meditation technique was introduced to the world more than 40 years ago by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a Hindu man who dedicated his life to spirituality and meditation.Deans said the technique doesn't require special concentration or contemplation, or change in lifestyle or beliefs. Students meditate for 15 minutes in the mornings and 15 minutes in the afternoon."This is an effortless technique that allows the mind to settle enough to experience that feeling of pure, silent awareness," Deans said. "It may look like the students are sitting there with their eyes closed wasting time, but what's actually happening is they are relieving acute social stress that can manifest itself in violence, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, accidents and sickness."Deans has given transcendental meditation presentations to principals and teachers in Fredericton, Saint John, Perth Andover, Moncton, and other parts of the province.He said everyone has been open to the idea, and a First Nation school in Big Cove has signed up for the transcendental meditation training.Dist. 18 Supt. Alex Dingwall said he's not aware of any schools in Fredericton that have bought into the idea, but he said the district wouldn't stop schools that wanted to try it."There are all kinds of strategies out there for helping kids deal with stress, reducing behavioural issues in schools or improving academic success," Dingwall said."We leave it up to our principals to decide which strategies they want to latch on to."Dingwall said the only time the district would step in is if a group was promoting a new program or initiative in schools that wasn't appropriate for children or backed by research."That isn't the case in this instance," Dingwall said."This group has been very public and has done some research on this strategy. Our only concern might be the loss of 30 minutes of instructional time in favour of meditation."Teachers who implement transcendental meditation are still responsible for teaching the entire curriculum even if they have 30 minutes less to work with each day.Dingwall said he would approve the meditation program if schools could find a way to include meditation without taking away from the regular classroom time."It would be considered part of the physical education curriculum, for example," Dingwall said. "There's normally a cool-down period in gym anyway, so I suppose it could be included that way."Deans said the benefits of transcendental meditation outweigh the loss of instructional time.He said the Maharishi School he works with in Fairfield, Iowa, has students that are more alert, receptive to knowledge and respectful towards classmates. He said test scores at the school have also increased."Every year, the school that I'm executive director of in Iowa, scores in the top one per cent of all schools in the United States on standardized tests, and it's not for any other reason other than meditation," Deans said."It's an amazing thing and, essentially, all it means is that every teacher would have to give up five minutes of class time each day."
Published Tuesday June 2nd, 2009 By JENNIFER DUNVILLE dunville.jennifer@dailygleaner.com
A meditation educator is travelling the province to encourage teachers, parents and principals to buy into a program that uses transcendental meditation to reduce behaviour issues and academic problems in schools.Ashley Deans, a physicist and educator with the Canadian Association for Stress-Free Schools, said 30 minutes of meditation a day can make a big difference in a student's academic success."The transcendental meditation technique is the single most effective technique available for eliminating stress, promoting health and increasing creativity and intelligence," Deans said. "It's not that unconventional since meditation has become more mainstream. Think of it in the context of providing a quiet-time program in schools."The transcendental meditation technique was introduced to the world more than 40 years ago by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a Hindu man who dedicated his life to spirituality and meditation.Deans said the technique doesn't require special concentration or contemplation, or change in lifestyle or beliefs. Students meditate for 15 minutes in the mornings and 15 minutes in the afternoon."This is an effortless technique that allows the mind to settle enough to experience that feeling of pure, silent awareness," Deans said. "It may look like the students are sitting there with their eyes closed wasting time, but what's actually happening is they are relieving acute social stress that can manifest itself in violence, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, accidents and sickness."Deans has given transcendental meditation presentations to principals and teachers in Fredericton, Saint John, Perth Andover, Moncton, and other parts of the province.He said everyone has been open to the idea, and a First Nation school in Big Cove has signed up for the transcendental meditation training.Dist. 18 Supt. Alex Dingwall said he's not aware of any schools in Fredericton that have bought into the idea, but he said the district wouldn't stop schools that wanted to try it."There are all kinds of strategies out there for helping kids deal with stress, reducing behavioural issues in schools or improving academic success," Dingwall said."We leave it up to our principals to decide which strategies they want to latch on to."Dingwall said the only time the district would step in is if a group was promoting a new program or initiative in schools that wasn't appropriate for children or backed by research."That isn't the case in this instance," Dingwall said."This group has been very public and has done some research on this strategy. Our only concern might be the loss of 30 minutes of instructional time in favour of meditation."Teachers who implement transcendental meditation are still responsible for teaching the entire curriculum even if they have 30 minutes less to work with each day.Dingwall said he would approve the meditation program if schools could find a way to include meditation without taking away from the regular classroom time."It would be considered part of the physical education curriculum, for example," Dingwall said. "There's normally a cool-down period in gym anyway, so I suppose it could be included that way."Deans said the benefits of transcendental meditation outweigh the loss of instructional time.He said the Maharishi School he works with in Fairfield, Iowa, has students that are more alert, receptive to knowledge and respectful towards classmates. He said test scores at the school have also increased."Every year, the school that I'm executive director of in Iowa, scores in the top one per cent of all schools in the United States on standardized tests, and it's not for any other reason other than meditation," Deans said."It's an amazing thing and, essentially, all it means is that every teacher would have to give up five minutes of class time each day."
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