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Students in academic environments are under a lot of pressure, with assignment deadlines, exams, and financial matters constantly weighing on their minds. This leads to a large proportion of students reporting stress-related complaints, affecting their academic performance, as well as their quality of life. Therefore, it is important to identify and improve ways to help reduce the stress-related discomfort that they experience. One of the approaches that has been receiving a lot of attention recently is the practice of mindfulness, which can reduce or prevent complaints of stress, anxiety, and tension.
Researchers from the Donders Institute and the Psychiatry department have teamed up to investigate how effective Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is at reducing stress-related complaints in stressed university students. They aim to understand how MBSR affects stress regulation mechanisms in the brain. In light of this, Nikos Kogias and colleagues have recently published the protocol of their ongoing MindRest study, a randomised controlled trial led by Erno Hermans and Anne Speckens. The protocol was published on July 1st in BMC Psychology, and the authors discuss the theoretical background and methods of their study.
Measurements for the MindRest study take place at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging before and after MBSR training at the Centre for Mindfulness of Radboud University Medical Center. Along with a longitudinal assessment of clinical symptoms, the researchers make use of classical as well as cutting edge neurocognitive assessments in an MRI scanner to examine different aspects of stress regulation. Additionally, a combination of short questionnaires throughout the day and wearable biosensors are used as a measure of daily life stress reactivity. The authors aim to contribute to the emerging literature on the neuroscience of mindfulness. This can ultimately allow development of more personalised approaches for the application of mindfulness in treatment but also prevention of stress-related disorders.
Recruitment information can be found here: MindRest (mindrest-donders.nl)
Read about the study here
Kogias N, Geurts DEM, Krause F, Speckens AEM, Hermans EJ. Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial investigating the effects of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction on stress regulation and associated neurocognitive mechanisms in stressed university students: the MindRest study. BMC Psychol. 2023 Jul 1;11(1):194. doi: 10.1186/s40359-023-01220-4. PMID: 37393359; PMCID: PMC10315027.
