Yoga and meditation in youth education: a systematic review

Abstract

BackgroundWith the increasing use of yoga and meditation in youth education, it is important to examine the evidence of their effect. This study aimed to assess the effect of meditation or yoga programmes on the education of youth and adolescence in a systematic review of the present literature. MethodsSystematic review methodology aligned to the PRISMA-R guidelines was used to identify scientific research on the effect of meditation or yoga on youth education. PubMed, Education Resources Information, and the Cochrane Library were searched. Keywords and text words were “meditation” or “yoga” in combination with “education” or “learning”, and “youth” or “adolescent”. across those databases for English language publications with healthy human participants in the past 5 years (June 16, 2013, to June 16, 2018). Studies not associated with yoga or meditation, youth, or education were excluded. A narrative synthesis with a tabulation system was used to analyse studies for their diverse research designs, methods, and outcomes. FindingsOf 3096 initial papers, 34 met the inclusion criteria. Included studies were conducted in the USA (28), China (2), India (2), Germany (1), and Thailand (1), and they applied various designs: randomised controlled trial (13, including classroom, group, or individual randomisation), quasi-experimental (11), single group pre–post test (3), qualitative interview (2), survey (1), and systematic review (4). Participants were primary school students, secondary school students, university students, and a few faculty or community members. Interventions differed in duration (a single class to 5 years) and composition (one yoga or meditation intervention to multi-intervention programmes combining physical activity, diet, activities for general health, and wellbeing). Of 28 quantitative studies, 23 (82%) had fewer than 100 participants in the intervention group. Outcomes used included cognition; academic performance; psychosomatic, social, and physiological measures; and measurements specific to the meditation or yoga intervention. Positive effects of yoga or meditation on outcomes were reported in most of the studies; negative findings and adverse effects (false memory with mindfulness meditation) were also reported. InterpretationThis study indicates a potential beneficial effect of yoga and meditation on youth education; however, given the risk of bias, heterogeneity, and weakness of methodology, further evidence is required. FundingNone.