Why I'm introducing mindfulness for my uni students

University students have been given a mindfulness session as part of a wider initiative aimed at improving their wellbeing.

Senior lecturer Dr Mahsa Ghaffari held the session to help University of Portsmouth marketing students develop ways of unwinding.

She said mindfulness was "about getting reconnected to your inner self, appreciating the moment right now".

Lewis Wilson, vice president of the National Union of Students (NUS), said students needed "well-funded and comprehensive mental health provision".

"It's really brilliant to see initiatives such as mindfulness sessions being offered," he added.

The NHS says mindfulness is about living more in the present moment, appreciating the here and now, and not dwelling too much on the past or future.

Ghaffari said: "We are teaching students to be mindful, not necessarily for addressing their stress level, which is important for them as well, but also for understanding that they are responsible human beings and they are responsible citizens.

"So employability should be their objective, should be their goal to achieve at the end of their studies, but it shouldn't be their ultimate objective.

"They should try to transcend, they should transform themselves, they should be a good human being, a good citizen."

NUS England vice president Lewis Wilson said: "University can be a stressful time for a range of reasons - it can be studies, finances, housing, relationships and a new location.

"And often it is the first time a young person is navigating all these challenges away from family as well."

Ghaffari said students' stress levels had increased due to the "climate we are living in".

"If students are trained as being mindful students and mindful consumers, later on when they are managers, they would be mindful, they would be a good leader," she said.

"The world is missing good leaders, human leaders."