Keshav SotaMs.Patterson/Mr.SilvestriDupont EssayTeen Meditation, not Medication

Todays teens face various types of challenges in their lives. A few of the challenges are universal and have been passed from generation to generation, such as peer pressure, family conflicts, and adapting to body changes (Lifespan 1), while others are the result of evolution in technology, such as the social pressure in the virtual world as seen through internet sites like Facebook. A teenagers reaction to these ordeals creates stress. A certain level of stress is healthy and can be motivating. However, if it exceeds a certain level, stress can become a problem and have lasting long-term (Kids Teen) effects including low self-esteem, depression, increased blood-pressure, and anxiety. Teenagers, whose minds are still developing, are not able to cope with their stresses as well as adults. However, if teenagers could learn to reduce their stress in a healthy way, they would not only perform better in high school and college, but also lead a content and successful life. In todays world there are few medical options available to treat stress, however, most of them only address symptoms, not the actual problem. However, meditation is a simple and effective treatment, which helps in reducing stress by improving ones emotional, mental and physical health. Under stress, the body works harder than usual which forces the nervous system into constant pressure. This in turn causes the CNS (Central Nervous System) to remain more active thus pumping out extra stress hormones over an extended period, which makes mitochondria in the cells become depleted and causing weakening in the bodys immune system resulting into overall unhealthy body and mind. Most teenagers have problems identifying stress as the most common signs of stress are not easily visible in them. Furthermore, as teenagers are going through a period of changes, including physical, emotional, social, academic changes, many are under more stress than any other time of life,(LifeSpan1) . Most times, teenagers are not treated for stress until they turn to drugs and alcohol at which point they are treated with medical alternatives. There are two popular types of medications available in the market to help the victim recover: Sedative (CNS depressants) and antidepressants. Sedative medications slows the central nervous system making the user feel relaxed. However, they have the ability to cause physiological and psychological addiction, (Mills). Antidepressant medicines work at the neuronal level of the brain with a neurotransmitter, which controls susceptibility to depression and anxiety conditions. Although anti-depressant are not addictive, the side-effects include nausea, dizziness, and sleep disturbances. Both sedatives and anti-depressant are able to control the stress levels but come with a heavy price tag of side-effects along with failure to address the underlying cause of the problem; stress. As an alternative to these medications, there is one easy and effective solution with no side effects: meditationMeditation is an ancient self-healing technique which connects the mind and the body. A few benefits of meditation include reduce stress, promote relaxation and increase personal well-being. The process of meditation slows down the heart rate, decreases blood pressure and increases alpha brain waves, which relaxes the body and brings it into a beta state; a wakeful rest state. There are several types of mediation techniques available such as mindfulness, breath watching, transcendental, empty mind mediation (Nauert). However, all of them are effective in reducing stress. The key to all meditation is to bring your body into a state of deep rest, which is opposite to stress.Meditation has become very common among adults; however, one would rarely find a teenage meditating. After conducting a brief survey in the Academy for Math, Science Engineering freshman class, I found out that 79% in a class of 24 students responded that they feel stress. Furthermore, none of the students had tried meditation as an alternative to cope with stress. In order to test the benefits of meditation in teenagers, I coordinated two sessions of half-an-hour guided meditations, which were delivered by Dr. Somya Ramakhyani, a certified meditation teacher and pediatrician. After the both meditation sessions, 21/24 students felt relieved of their stress. In fact, the meditation helped the students so much that 23/24 said that they would be interested in doing it again. In addition, the teacher of the class, Ms. Patterson, who does meditation regularly, said that though she is usually very alert , meditating in the classroom made her feel at home and very relaxed. In the same experiment, students were given surprise tests before and after the meditation. The blood pressure and pulse rate were also taken before and after the meditation. Though the blood pressure and pulse rate did not show any significant improvement after meditation (mostly remain same or undulated very little); however students performance in the test conducted after the meditation significantly improved by 30%. Today almost every school has a program for physical fitness, bullying depression; but what about all the stress building up inside teenagers heads. There are handful schools who are adopting meditation program to help stressed kids. Dr. John M Kennedy, who has developed a 10 minute guided meditation program for students at St. Marys kids to help them calm themselves and focus says "You can teach kids affective coping skills so they can stop stress in its tracks," (Dador). Research at University of Cambridge has shown that meditation created a better attitude in male teenagers. Thus, introducing the technique in early teenage years will give immense benefits. In this zenith of technology, teenagers have to face more stress than any other generation has ever seen. They must learn to manage the tug of war between responsibilities, social connections, and independence and find the balance in their life. Beyond daily nutrition, physical exercise and academics teenager needs to learn to control the chatter in their mind so they can control daily stress. Meditation is easiest and safest way that they can achieve this goal. Teenagers who do meditation release their negative thoughts and behaviors which instead is replaced by self-confidence and good morale. All in all, meditation (not medication) is the safe and efficient way for teenagers to get rid of their daily stress and improve physical, emotional and mental state.Word Count: 1,000 (excluding work cited, and in-text citations)