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Finding effective, accessible, and immediate methods for reducing anxiety and stress in an undergraduate student population during the global pandemic

As mental health is becoming increasingly prioritized, the disparity between the amount of undergraduate students who need mental health services and the amount of undergraduate students that actually receive this help is also becoming more noticeable. Over the past decade, there have been an increasing number of students seeking mental health services, with more students being diagnosed with mental health conditions. There have also been a rising number of students reporting heightened stress and anxiety due to COVID-19. With the increasing mental health diagnoses, especially during COVID-19, it is more important than ever to provide effective options for students to reduce their anxiety. To address this issue, we examined the effects of short easily accessible interventions including chair yoga, visual meditation and sound therapy to decrease anxiety in healthy college students. We report that a single session of five-minute chair yoga (p = 0.001) or visual meditation (p = 0.026) significantly reduced anxiety, as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. We propose that results of this study be considered preliminary data in starting a self-help system for undergraduate students, especially during periods of exceptionally high stress, such as midterms or finals.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/43326
Date09 November 2021
CreatorsBai, Jefferson
ContributorsSuzuki, Wendy, Tornheim, Keith
Source SetsBoston University
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis/Dissertation

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