Using Heartfulness Meditation and Brain Entrainment to Improve Teenage Mental Wellbeing

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-minute Heartfulness meditation and 15-minute brainwave entrainment sessions with binaural beats and isochronic tones 3 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 (n=40) were divided into 4 experimental groups: the control group (n=9), Audio Brainwave Entrainment group (n=9), Heartfulness Meditation group (n=10), and a combined group (n=12), for a 4-week intervention. Data were analyzed with paired t-tests. The singular Audio Brainwave Entrainment group did not see statistically significant improvements, nor did any of the intervention groups for brain health (p>0.05). This study, however, proved the efficacy of a 4-week Heartfulness Meditation program to regulate overall mood (p=.00132), stress levels (p=.0089), state depression (POMS; p=.0037), and anger (p=.002). Results also suggest adding Audio Brainwave Entrainment to Heartfulness Meditation may improve sleep quality (p=.0377) and stress levels (p=.00016).