A Pre-, Peri- and Post-Pandemic Comparative Study of Psychophysiological Health in Peruvian Students Who Meditate

A Pre-, Peri- and Post-Pandemic Comparative Study of Psychophysiological Health in Peruvian Students Who Meditate | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article A Pre-, Peri- and Post-Pandemic Comparative Study of Psychophysiological Health in Peruvian Students Who Meditate Dr Lee Fergusson This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7915790/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract To explore this phenomenon further, the pre-, peri-, and post-pandemic impact of Transcendental Meditation in Peru is the subject of the present study, which seeks to confirm these earlier observations about meditating students during the pandemic. In a cohort of 1,635 primary and secondary students at seven schools on nine health-related measures—1) tiredness; 2) physical capacity; 3) sickness; 4) memory; 5) ability to study; 6) ability to concentrate; 7) friendliness; 8) aggression; and 9) self-confidence—results confirm that no discernible differences between pre-, peri-, and post-pandemic health were observed. Indeed, 85% of students reported their physical, cognitive and emotional health did not decline during the pandemic (as compared to 80% before and 89% after) and average health levels in the group remained stable at the 67 th percentile across the four years between 2019 and 2023. No differences in health were observed for gender between the three pandemic periods, but primary and secondary school levels and age levels were marginally different. Most Peruvian and international research indicates the COVID-19 pandemic had a significantly adverse impact on individual health outcomes, particularly the mental health of children and adolescents. Findings associated with increased depression, anxiety, loneliness, alcohol abuse, eating disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder have dominated this literature. However, both historical and contemporary pandemic-related evidence also suggests the practice of Transcendental Meditation improves mental health, and data from meditating students in Peru indicate coping, learning, anxiety, depression, and optimism were not adversely affected by the pandemic. Educational Psychology Health COVID-19 pandemic primary and secondary school students Transcendental Meditation Peru Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7915790","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":533035183,"identity":"daf1053b-da39-4ed4-8672-f372a6210dae","order_by":0,"name":"Dr Lee Fergusson","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1041-3760","institution":"University of Southern Queensland","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"Dr","firstName":"Lee","middleName":"","lastName":"Fergusson","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-10-21 21:14:56","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":true,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true,"humanSubjectConsent":true,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7915790/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7915790/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":94395738,"identity":"2acf6212-52dc-4384-91a6-126de4ee55e1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-27 13:55:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":385442,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"PandemicPsychophysiologicalHealthwithAuthors221025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7915790/v1_covered_88c18a1f-9ee9-4c47-9ef4-5f01e4825a88.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Pre-, Peri- and Post-Pandemic Comparative Study of Psychophysiological Health in Peruvian Students Who Meditate\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Health, COVID-19 pandemic, primary and secondary school students, Transcendental Meditation, Peru","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7915790/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7915790/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eTo explore this phenomenon further, the pre-, peri-, and post-pandemic impact of Transcendental Meditation in Peru is the subject of the present study, which seeks to confirm these earlier observations about meditating students during the pandemic. In a cohort of 1,635 primary and secondary students at seven schools on nine health-related measures—1) tiredness; 2) physical capacity; 3) sickness; 4) memory; 5) ability to study; 6) ability to concentrate; 7) friendliness; 8) aggression; and 9) self-confidence—results confirm that no discernible differences between pre-, peri-, and post-pandemic health were observed. Indeed, 85% of students reported their physical, cognitive and emotional health did not decline during the pandemic (as compared to 80% before and 89% after) and average health levels in the group remained stable at the 67\u003csup\u003eth\u003c/sup\u003e percentile across the four years between 2019 and 2023. No differences in health were observed for gender between the three pandemic periods, but primary and secondary school levels and age levels were marginally different.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost Peruvian and international research indicates the COVID-19 pandemic had a significantly adverse impact on individual health outcomes, particularly the mental health of children and adolescents. Findings associated with increased depression, anxiety, loneliness, alcohol abuse, eating disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder have dominated this literature. However, both historical and contemporary pandemic-related evidence also suggests the practice of Transcendental Meditation improves mental health, and data from meditating students in Peru indicate coping, learning, anxiety, depression, and optimism were not adversely affected by the pandemic.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"A Pre-, Peri- and Post-Pandemic Comparative Study of Psychophysiological Health in Peruvian Students Who Meditate","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-25 20:52:29","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7915790/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"c887c796-24fe-4619-b906-9610cc8b6265","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 25th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":56667344,"name":"Educational Psychology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-25T20:52:29+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-25 20:52:29","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7915790","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7915790","identity":"rs-7915790","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}