Mind-Body Practices for Mental Health in Higher Education: Breathing, Grounding and Consistency are Essential for Stress and Anxiety Management

Background and objectives: Mental health issues such as anxiety and stress are prevalent in educational settings, highlighting the need for individualized, scalable interventions. Mind-body approaches are promising for distress management, and this study explored which body-based strategies students found effective.
Methods: A cross-sectional study assessed mental health and use of body-based coping strategies among 152 primarily female students, age 21-52, in the Educational Program for Psychomotor Therapy, a group familiar with such strategies. An electronic survey assessed wellbeing (WHO-5), stress (PSS-10), anxiety (HADS-A), and use of 13 mind-body practices (e.g., breathing, grounding, muscle relaxation). Participants were grouped by mental health risk and a logistic regression explored associations with coping strategy use.
Results: High-frequency use of more body-based strategies predicted lower odds of being in the high-risk group (p = .039), while sporadic use of more strategies predicted high mental health risk (p = .022). Breathing and grounding were the most frequently used and helpful practices, with minimal barriers. High-risk students cited capability concerns and time as barriers, while all participants mentioned forgetting to use the practices.
Conclusions: High-risk students use a broader range of practices sporadically, whereas low-risk students adopt selected strategies more consistently. Proper integration of practices through education and training may be crucial for enhancing their efficacy.