AUTHOR=Yadav Ghazal Suhani , Cidral-Filho Francisco José , Iyer Ranjani B. 

TITLE=Using Heartfulness Meditation and Brainwave Entrainment to Improve Teenage Mental Wellbeing

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.742892

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.742892

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>Teenagers are highly susceptible to mental health issues and this problem has been exacerbated by the quarantine restrictions of COVID-19. This study evaluated the use of Heartfulness Meditation and Audio Brainwave Entrainment to help teenagers cope with mental health issues. It used 30-min Heartfulness meditation and 15-min brainwave entrainment sessions with binaural beats and isochronic tones three times a week for 4 weeks. Using a pretest-posttest methodology, participants were asked to complete a survey battery including the Pittsburgh Quality of Sleep Index, Perceived Stress Scale, Patient Health Question-9, Profile of Mood States, and Cambridge Brain Health assessment. Participants (<italic>n</italic> = 40) were divided into four experimental groups: the control group (<italic>n</italic> = 9), Audio Brainwave Entrainment group (<italic>n</italic> = 9), Heartfulness Meditation group (<italic>n</italic> = 10), and a combined group (<italic>n</italic> = 12), for a 4-week intervention. Data were analyzed with paired <italic>t</italic>-tests. The singular Audio Brainwave Entrainment group did not see statistically significant improvements, nor did any of the intervention groups for brain health (<italic>p</italic> &gt; 0.05). This study, however, proved the efficacy of a 4-week Heartfulness Meditation program to regulate overall mood (<italic>p</italic> = 0.00132), stress levels (<italic>p</italic> = 0.0089), state depression (POMS; <italic>p</italic> = 0.0037), and anger (<italic>p</italic> = 0.002). Results also suggest adding Audio Brainwave Entrainment to Heartfulness Meditation may improve sleep quality (<italic>p</italic> = 0.0377) and stress levels (<italic>p</italic> = 0.00016).</p>