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Thousands of teenagers across the UK will have school lessons in mindfulness in an experiment designed to see if it can protect against mental illness.

Mindfulness classes to 'help teenagers' mental fitness' By Smitha Mundasad BBC News Health 15/07/15. The £6.4m programme will be carried out by teams at the University of Oxford, University College London and Medical Research Council over seven years. Teachers will encourage students to use "mind exercises" that train their attention on the present, such as deep breathing, in the Wellcome Trust study. William Kukyen, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford, says they are approaching the trial with an open mind. But he argues that adolescence could be a key time to intervene - research increasingly suggests mental illness often takes root before before the age of 15 and that the brain goes through an intense period of development during teenage years.

Also:

All in the mindfulness? Mass study tests benefits of meditation for British teenagers' mental health The Guardian, 16/07/2015, p.13, Robert Booth

Radio: Today, BBC Radio 4 16/07/2015, 06:49 Willem Kuyken, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford and Director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, is interviewed about the Wellcome Trust today launching a seven-year study to assess the effectiveness of teaching ‘mindfulness’ in UK schools. (Around 53:00 on the clock)

Radio: Charles Nove, BBC Radio Oxford 16/07/2015, 06:02 and 6:33
News bulletin mentions that the £6.4m programme to study mindfulness in schools will involve researchers at Oxford University.

Schools put mindfulness to the test BBC News online, 15/07/2015, Smitha Mundasad

Teach mindfulness to save pupils from life of drugs, say experts Daily Mail, 16/07/2015, p.31, Eleanor Harding

Schoolchildren To Get ‘Mindfulness Training’ Sky News online, 16/07/2015

Can mindfulness really boost pupils’ results? A major research project plans to find out Times Educational Supplement online, 15/07/2015, Kris Griffiths

Large UK trial to ask if mindfulness boosts teenage mental health Reuters online, 15/07/2015, Kate Kelland

Large UK trial to ask if mindfulness boosts teenage mental health Channel NewsAsia online, 15/07/2015, via Reuters, Kate Kelland

Your homework? Relax Daily Mail (Ireland), 16/07/2015, p.3, Aisling Scally

Large UK trial to ask if mindfulness boosts teenage mental health Business Insider online, 16/07/2015, via Kate Kelland

New study will see thousands of schoolchildren take part in trial to test mindfulness Oxford Mail online, 16/07/2015

Mindfulness for kids - but not for me The Guardian, 17/07/2015, p.35, Christina Patterson Comment piece on a new trial of the effect of mindfulness meditation on mental health involving 6,000 teenagers led by psychologists and neuroscientists from Oxford University and University College London.

University to help in major new 'mindfulness' study ITV News online (West), 16/07/2015 Exeter University is teaming up with Oxford University and UCL to run a new mindfulness trial in collaboration with 76 schools.

Large UK trial to ask if mindfulness boosts teenage mental health Fox News (USA), 16/07/2015, via Reuters

Teens To Have School Lessons In Mindfulness In Hope Of Protecting Against Mental Illnesses Huffington Post UK, 16/07/2015, Lucy Sherriff

Radio: Howard Bentham, BBC Radio Oxford  16/07/2015, 08:06 Mention of a 6.4 million pound programme involving Oxford University researchers that teaches mindfulness in schools.

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