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School’s been back in session for a couple of week’s now, so it’s a great time to talk about all the reasons why students should practice mindfulness. Once I’m done with the sales pitch, I’ll give you specific tips on how to bring mindfulness to your studies.
There are actually dozens of ways in which mindfulness can benefit you, but I’m going to focus on the five benefits that impact students most.
Reduced anxiety and stress
Stress and anxiety arise when you focus on potential problems. You cast your mind forward to all the negative things that could happen, and you feel anxious. Mindfulness is the practice of focusing attention on what’s happening in the present moment. When you learn to be mindful, you experience less anxiety, because you don’t cast your mind into the future as often. 
You also learn that stress is actually caused by the way your mind reacts to negative situations, and it is possible for your mind to react in a different way. With practice, you’ll become capable of responding to stressful situations in a calm and relaxed manner.
Better sleep
When I teach a mindfulness class, I always have students who report that they’re sleeping better. It’s often one of the first benefits to manifest. There’s even a special mindfulness meditation called deep relaxation or body scan that can help you relax your body and fall asleep easily. If you want to try a body scan, jump over to Episode 89 at mindful15.com/stuff. Good sleep is important, because when you’re well rested, you focus better on schoolwork and you find stress easier to manage.
Sharpened memory and cognition
Mindfulness improves your ability to pay attention and to focus on your work. Better attention, in turn, improves your thinking and memory skills. It makes sense, right? If you focus better during a lesson, you’ll remember more. You’ll also be able to take better notes and you’ll be in a better position to ask questions of your instructors. Because you’ve taken in more of the lesson, exercises will be easier and you’ll perform better on tests. These benefits apply no matter the learning activity, whether you’re reading, watching a video, attending a class in person or online, participating in a group discussion, etc.
Studies show that students who practice mindfulness meditation have less test anxiety and better grades, all because their attention improves.
Improved self-awareness and  emotional regulation 
Mindfulness practice teaches you about the way your own mind works, so you become more aware of the way in which you react to the world around you and you get to make better choices about how you react. In this way, you improve your ability to manage major life events and you become better at interacting with other people.
Mindfulness increases compassion and empathy, because you come to understand how the mind works in general, and that understanding helps you accept other people for who they are and to cut them some slack.
Students who practice mindfulness experience improved relationships and reduced social anxiety.
Increased happiness and life satisfaction
Yes, mindfulness practice can help you become a happier person. How? By teaching you to go with the flow, adapting to everything that comes up in your life, positive or negative, with calm, relaxed energy. It also puts you in a frame of mind to really notice all the positive things in your life and reduces the amount of time you spend dwelling on the negative.
Two ways for students to practice mindfulness
I recommend using both of these practices:
1 - Mindfulness meditation