The David Lynch Foundation will host a Sept. 30 webinar during which a panel of physicians and scientists will discuss the benefits that ADHD students can experience from a simple meditation.

A Sept. 16 article on The Medical News website provided the following details:

The webinar, which comes on the final day of National ADHD Public Awareness Month, will report on published research on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique for improving academic achievement and executive brain function while reducing learning disorders, anxiety, depression, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and heart disease.

One recent study, published in the January 2009 issue of the peer-reviewed Current Issues in Education, followed a group of 10 middle school students with ADHD who were practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique twice a day in school. After three months, researchers found over 50 percent reduction in stress and anxiety, and improvements in ADHD symptoms.

"The effect was much greater than we expected," said Sarina J. Grosswald, Ed.D., a George Washington University-trained cognitive learning specialist and lead researcher on the study. "The children also showed improvements in attention, working memory, organization, and behavior regulation."

Conference panelists will include Sarina Grosswalk, Ed.D and William Stixrud, Ph.D. of George Washington University, and Norman Rosenthal, M.D. of the National Institute of Mental Health.

The webinar is scheduled to begin at noon (ET) on www.adhd-tm.org.

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A cognitive learning specialist in Arlington, Virginia, says that a meditation technique made popular by the Beatles may offer significant benefits to young people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

According to a June 17 Reuters Health article, a study that was led by Sarina J. Grosswald found that transcendental medication (TM) helped ADHD kids remember more, behave better, and focus more easily:

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 and anxious."

"TM doesn't require concentration, controlling the mind or disciplined focus," 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."

Grosswald's research into the usefulness of having children with ADHD practice transcendental meditation was published in the December 2008 issue of Current Issues in Education.

Labels: research, meditation

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