New research suggests meditation and mental exercises may be better than drugs at helping people cope with attention problems, The New York Times reports.
A growing body of research suggests that strengthening mental skills, usually with exercises in so-called mindfulness, may help children and adults cope with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The studies come amid growing concern about the effectiveness of drugs used to treat ADHD.
In 2007, researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles published a study showing ADHD rates among teenagers in Finland and the U.S., even though far more American teens take ADHD drugs.
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“It raises questions about using medication as a first line of treatment,” said Susan Smalley, a behavior geneticist at U.C.L.A. and the lead author.
In another study published last year in The Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, researchers reported that while most young people with ADHD benefit from medications in the first year, these effects wane by the third year. But strengthening mental skills can be longer lasting, they suggested.
“There are no long-term, lasting benefits from taking ADHD medications,” said James M. Swanson, a psychologist at the University of California-Irvine, and an author of the study. “But mindfulness seems to be training the same areas of the brain that have reduced activity in ADHD.
“That’s why mindfulness might be so important. It seems to get at the causes.”