Reduced symptoms of ADHD

A random assignment pilot study investigated effects of Transcendental Meditation (TM) on task performance and brain functioning in 18 ADHD students, age 11–14 years. Students were pretested, randomly assigned to TM or delayed-start comparison groups, and post-tested after 3 and 6 months. Delayed-start students learned TM after the 3-month post-test. Three months TM practice resulted in significant decreases in theta/beta ratios, increased theta coherence, a trend for increased alpha and beta1 coherence, and increased letter fluency. The delayed start group similarly had decreased theta/beta ratios and increased letter fluency at the 6 month post-test, after they practiced TM for 3 months. Also, all students significantly improved on five ADHD-symptoms over the six months of the study, as reported in the parents’ survey.

Improved Performance by ADHD Students on Executive Function Tasks

School students with a current diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who learned the Transcendental Meditation Technique showed improved performance on tasks requiring executive function after three months, as measured by increased expressive attention, increased accuracy, greater fluency of categorization, and increased flexibility in switching categories.Ref.Current Issues in Education 10(2), 2008. [Online]

Improved Teacher Behaviour Rating of Executive Function among ADHD Students

School students with a current diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who learned the Transcendental Meditation Technique were rated by teachers after three months as showing improvement on several measures of executive function, indicating greater cognitive capability and self-control.Ref.Current Issues in Education 10(2), 2008. [Online]

Decreased Stress, Anxiety, and ADHD Symptoms

School students with a current diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who learned the Transcendental Meditation Technique displayed after three months reduced stress, anxiety, and ADHD symptoms, as rated both by teachers and by themselves. The p-value on the chart indicates improvement as determined by a multivariate test for the following subscales: anxious/depresses, withdrawn/depressed, affective problems, anxiety problems, attention problems, ADHD problems, and total problems; the bars on the chart indicate change on the total problems subscale.Ref.Current Issues in Education 10(2), 2008. [Online]