Study finds yoga and mindfulness activities greatly improves well-being in third-graders. Researchers from Tulane University worked with a public school in New Orleans to add yoga and mindfulness activities to the curriculum for an experimental group of children, while a control group continued regular care such as counseling and interaction with the school social worker. The researchers chose to do the study with third-graders because previous child studies have already found this to be a significant year for increased academic challenges and related increased stress and anxiety for kids. Before and after the changed curriculum, researchers evaluated the children’s quality of life; kids who underwent the intervention using yoga and mindfulness while at school saw significantly improved psychosocial and emotional quality of life scores after eight weeks, and teachers confirmed a noticed difference in the well-being of students in this group. The larger implications are that mindfulness and related activities are extremely valuable at any age for improving quality of life and that the stress or anxiety in young people in your life should not be underestimated.