a viable future". as mindfulness in education continues to develop, ethical consequences will remain a controversial issue because the generic description for the "benefits" and "results" of mbis are largely concerned with individual and inward-focused achievement, rather than the original buddhist ideal of global human connection. available research reveals a relationship between mindfulness and attention. semple, lee, rosa, & miller argue, "anxiety can impair attention and promote emotionally reactive behaviors that interfere with the development of good study skills, so it seems reasonable that increased mindfulness would be associated with less anxiety". they conducted a randomized trial of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for children (mbct-c) that found promise in managing anxiety for elementary school-aged children, and suggests that those who completed the program displayed fewer attention problems. in addition, flook shows how an eight-week mindfulness awareness program was evaluated in a random and controlled school setting and measured the effects of awareness practices on executive functions in elementary school children. their findings concluded, "participation in the mindfulness awareness program was associated with improvements in behavioral regulation, metacognition, and overall executive functions". in the study by flook, parents and teachers completed questionnaires which propose that participation in mindfulness programs is associated with improvements in child behavioral regulation. these perspectives are a valuable source of data given that caregivers and educators interact with the children daily and across a variety of settings. according to eklund, omalley, and meyer, "school-based practitioners should find promise in the evidence supporting mindfulness-based practices with children, parents, and educators". lastly, a third study by zenner, herrnleben-kurz, and walach concluded, "analysis suggest that mindfulness-based interventions for children and youths are able to increase cognitive capacity of attending and learning by nearly one standard deviation and yield". application of mindfulness-based interventions continue to increase in popularity and practice. mindfulness-based interventions are rising across western culture, but its effectiveness in school programs is still being determined. research contends, "mindfulness-based approaches for adults are effective at enhancing mental health, but few controlled trials have evaluated their effectiveness among young people". although much of the available studies find a high number of mindfulness acceptability among students and teachers, more research needs to be conducted on its effects on well-being and mental health for students. in a firmly controlled experiment, johnson, burke, brinkman, and wade evaluated "the impact of an existing and widely available school-based mindfulness program". according to their research, "no improvements were demonstrated on any outcome measured either immediately post-intervention or at three-month follow-up". many questions remain on which practices best implement effective and reliable mindfulness programs at schools, and further research is needed to identify the optimal methods and measurement tools for mindfulness in education. business mindfulness training appears to be getting popular in the business world, and many large corporations have been incorporating mindfulness practices into their culture. for example, companies such as google, apple, procter & gamble, general mills, mayo clinic, and the u.s. army offer mindfulness coaching, meditation breaks and other resources to their employees to improve workplace functioning. the introduction of mindfulness in corporate settings still remains in early stages and its potential long-term impact requires further assessment. mindfulness has been found to result in better employee well-being, lower levels of frustration, lower absenteeism and burnout as well as an improved overall work environment. law legal and law enforcement organizations are also showing interest in mindfulness: harvard law school's program on negotiation hosted a workshop on "mindfulness in the law & alternative dispute resolution." many law firms offer mindfulness classes. prison-programs mindfulness has been taught in prisons, reducing hostility and mood disturbance among inmates, and improving their self-esteem. additional studies indicate that mindfulness interventions can result in significant reductions in anger, reductions in substance use, increased relaxation capacity, self-regulation and optimism. government many government organizations offer mindfulness training. coping strategies is an example of a program utilized by united states armed forces personnel. the british parliament organized a mindfulness-session for its members in 2014, led by ruby wax. scientific research main articles: research on meditation, neural mechanisms of mindfulness meditation, and brain activity and meditation effects and efficacy of mindfulness practice mindfulness has gained increasing empirical attention since 1970 and has been studied often as an intervention for stress reduction. meta analyses indicate its beneficial effects for healthy adults, for adolescents and children, as well as for different health-related outcomes including weight management, psychiatric conditions, heart disease, sleep disorders, cancer care, adult autism treatment, multiple sclerosis, and other health-related conditions. an often-cited meta-analysis on meditation research published in jama in 2014, found insufficient evidence of any effect of meditation programs on positive mood, attention, substance use, eating habits, sleep, and weight, but found that there is moderate evidence that meditation reduces anxiety, depression, and pain. however, this study included a highly heterogeneous group of meditation styles (i.e., it did not focus exclusively on mindfulness meditation), which is a significant limitation of this study. additionally, while mindfulness is well known to have positive psychological effect among individuals diagnosed with various types of cancers, the evidence is unclear regarding its effectiveness in men with prostate cancer. thousands of studies on meditation have been conducted, though the methodological quality of some of the studies is poor. recent reviews have pointed out many of these issues. nonetheless, mindfulness meditation is a popular subject for research, and many present potential benefits for a wide array of conditions and outcomes. for example, the practice of mindfulness has also been used to improve athletic performance, as a beneficial intervention for children with special needs and their caregivers, as a viable treatment option for people with insomnia an effective intervention for healthy aging, as a strategy for managing dermatological conditions and as a useful intervention during pregnancy and the perinatal period. recent studies have also demonstrated that mindfulness meditation significantly attenuates physical pain through multiple, unique mechanisms. meditation also may allow one to modulate pain. when exposed to pain from heating, the brain scans of the mindfulness meditation participants (by use of functional magnetic resonance imaging) showed their brains notice the pain equally, however it does not get converted to a perceived pain signal. as such they experienced up to 40–50% less pain. further, mindfulness meditation also appears to lead to increased telomere length, which is an important finding considering that short telomeres can be a risk factor for the development of several chronic health conditions. research has also investigated mindful movements and mindful exercises for different patient populations. mindfulness-based approaches are a major subject of increasing research interest, 52 papers were published in 2003, rising to 477 by 2012. nearly 100 randomized controlled trials had been published by early 2014. neurological studies research studies have also focused on the effects of mindfulness on the brain using neuroimaging techniques, physiological measures and behavioral tests. research on the neural perspective of how mindfulness meditation works suggests that it exerts its effects in components of attention regulation, body awareness and emotional regulation. when considering aspects such as sense of responsibility, authenticity, compassion, self-acceptance and character, studies have shown that mindfulness meditation contributes to a more coherent and healthy sense of self and identity. neuroimaging techniques suggest that mindfulness practices such as mindfulness meditation are associated with "changes in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, temporo-parietal junction, fronto-limbic network and default mode network structures." further, mindfulness meditation may prevent or delay the onset of mild cognitive impairment and alzheimer's disease. additionally, mindfulness-induced emotional and behavioral changes have been found to be related to functional and structural changes in the brain. it has also been suggested that the default mode network of the brain can be used as a potential biomarker for monitoring the therapeutic benefits of meditation. recent research also suggest that the practice of mindfulness could influence genetic expression leading to a reduced risk of inflammation-related diseases and favourable changes in biomarkers. grey matter concentrations in brain regions that regulate emotion, self-referential processing, learning and memory processes have shown changes in density following mbsr. additionally, mbsr practice has been associated with improvement of the immune system which could explain the correlation between stress reduction and increased quality of life. part of these changes are a result of the thickening of the prefrontal cortex (executive functioning) and hippocampus (learning and memorisation ability), the shrinking of the amygdala (emotion and stress response) and the strengthening of the connections between brain cells. long-term meditators have larger amounts of gyrification ("folding" of the cortex, which may allow the brain to process information faster) than people who do not meditate. further, a direct correlation was found between the amount of gyrification and the number of meditation years, possibly providing further proof of the brain's neuroplasticity, or ability to adapt to environmental changes. associations of mindfulness with other variables mindfulness (as a trait, distinguished from mindfulness practice) has been linked to many outcomes. in an overview, keng, smoski, and robins summarize: "trait mindfulness has been associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, agreeableness, conscientiousness, vitality, self esteem, empathy, sense of autonomy, competence, optimism, and pleasant affect. a 2020 study found links between dispositional mindfulness and prosocial behavior. studies have also demonstrated significant negative correlations between mindfulness and depression, neuroticism, absentmindedness, dissociation, rumination, cognitive reactivity, social anxiety, difficulties in emotion regulation, experiential avoidance, alexithymia, intensity of delusional experience in the context of psychosis, and general psychological symptoms." 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