An 8-week mindfulness intervention for police officers led to self-reported improvements in psychological distress, mental health symptoms, and sleep quality, with gains maintained at 3-month follow-up. The mindfulness group also had a significantly lower cortisol awakening response at follow-up compared to a waitlist control group. No effects were found on hair cortisol, diurnal cortisol slope, or inflammatory markers. The findings suggest mindfulness training may buffer against long-term consequences of chronic stress in policing.
Fifth graders who completed an 8-week school-based mindfulness training showed significant improvements on a computerized measure of cognitive flexibility and received higher end-of-year social-emotional learning grades compared to a wait-list control group, after accounting for prior-year grades. The 292 students from 21 classrooms were randomly assigned to either the mindfulness program or a control condition. Teacher-rated social-emotional competence did not differ between groups. The results suggest that a brief mindfulness intervention can bolster cognitive and social-emotional skills during the transitional pre-adolescent period.