One of the greatest gifts human beings possess is an immense capacity for learning and it is our philosophy at the Institute of HeartMath that exploring how we learn and finding new ways to enhance that ability and constantly kindle it in young and old, regardless of capability, is a sacred and ceaseless undertaking.

The Science of Learning

It makes sense that the student who is agitated, anxious, fidgety or depressed might have difficulty performing at his or her highest level on tests, writing term papers or in other academic tasks. In contrast, it would seem the student who is calm, focused and in good spirits is more likely to perform better.

A simple enough deduction, but researchers at the Institute of HeartMath wanted proof and spent many years exploring the ways in which we learn. They identified a measurable physiological state that underlies optimal learning and performance. When our emotions are calm and our brain, nervous system and other bodily systems function with increased synchronization and harmony, we are in this state and we are highly in sync – physically, mentally and emotionally. This in turn, facilitates the higher cognitive processes critical for focusing attention, reasoning and creativity, all of which are essential for effective learning, academic achievement and social success.

Research shows the cumulative emotional stress from family issues, peer pressure, overwhelm and boredom increases the blocks and resistance to learning and test-taking. These pressures erode self-motivation and especially stifle the desire to learn. HeartMath has established that there is a direct link between a student’s ability to self-manage emotions and academic performance.

Too much stress on test day can create "memory jammers," and even the best-prepared students often may perform poorly because of memory block caused by test anxiety.

Dr. Rollin McCraty, director of research for the Institute of HeartMath, explains this phenomenon: "When students are anxious about their test performance, their brain ceases to function efficiently. They can look at a test question and literally not see certain words, become confused or miss the meaning of the question. They can even miss seeing entire questions on the page."

McCraty says the key to understanding how anxiety inhibits cognitive and physical performance lies in understanding how emotions affect the rhythmic activity in the nervous system.

Feelings like frustration, anger and anxiety cause the neural activity in the two branches of the autonomic nervous system to get out of sync. This in turn affects the synchronized activity in the brain, disrupting our ability to think clearly. On the other hand, uplifting feelings such as appreciation and caring lead to increased harmony and synchronization in the brain and nervous system, which facilitate our ability to think clearly.

The Role of Your Heart in Learning

An important finding by IHM researchers is the key role the heart plays in determining how "in sync" we are.

"The heart puts out a powerful, rhythmic signal that the brain responds to," McCraty said. "Nerve impulses originating in the heart dramatically affect how we think, perceive and perform. In a way, we could say that the heart and brain ‘talk’ to one another – and together they set the rhythms for the entire nervous system and body. In fact, the heart sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart.

"The signals it sends – whether harmonious or chaotic – can make all the difference in our performance. Chaotic activity in the nervous system leads to what is called ‘cortical inhibition.’ Our reactions are slowed and we cannot think clearly. The more refined mental processes required on exams and for learning such as abstract reasoning or comprehending the deeper meaning of what is being read are especially affected." Go to Scientific Role of the Heart in Learning and Performance.

HeartMath Products for Learning

Over the years, people have looked to the Institute of HeartMath for effective ways of motivating and enhancing learning for students of all ages and IHM has developed a product line geared to do just that. We have learning programs, materials and technology to help students, teachers and other educators make the learning experience engaging and effective inside and outside the classroom.

About TestEdge^® Learning Programs

Utilizing the findings about how we learn and after consulting with educators nationwide, HeartMath researchers developed the TestEdge^® supplemental learning programs, evidence based and tested to help bridge emotions and academics for student success. The TestEdge programs, which are specially tailored for the individual needs of students in various grade levels, are based on 19 years of scientific research. They teach students how to use emotional awareness to get in sync and stabilize the brain’s electrical activity. This stabilization results in cortical facilitation, which is associated with improved comprehension, memory recall and the ability to solve problems, all skills that produce positive test results and improved learning ability.

A key concept of TestEdge and the reason for its success is that it teaches students of all ages to become aware of and resolve much of the emotional turbulence that suppresses motivation and jams critical thinking. The scientifically validated tools taught in TestEdge help students build genuine self-confidence, giving them the power to change their performance and lives by learning to manage and shift draining emotions such as anger, fear and performance anxiety. This enables all students to achieve their full potential. Go to TestEdge.

HeartSmarts™ Grades 3-5 (for classroom use)

Bridging academic and emotional learning, HeartSmarts teaches upper elementary students to manage stress, improve learning and strengthen relationships. HeartSmarts is organized into five modules. Short lessons within each module use experiential learning for problem-solving and collaborative discussion on topics related to school performance. Through minimal practice and reflection, students develop "habits of the heart," which improve learner readiness, motivation, behavior management and classroom climate. Go to HeartSmarts Grades 3-5.

Inside Story Classroom Program, Grades 9-12+ (for classroom use)

This stress-management supplemental classroom program for bridging emotions and academics for student success helps high school and college students understand the connection between their emotions, health, performance and daily lives. Includes the latest research in neuroscience, emotional physiology and stress through the Freeze-Frame^® technique for managing stress by freezing what’s happening in the moment, stepping back and gaining a wider, clearer perspective, then activating positive emotions before taking action. Go to Inside Story Classroom Program.

About emWave^® Technology for Students

Our children are not immune to the increase in stress levels we face at the start of the 21st century. They have names for their stress as well: "test anxiety" or "test stress", "math anxiety" and "peer pressure". There is enormous pressure to do well in school and fit in, not to mention numerous relationship issues with family, friends and teachers. The emWave Personal Stress Reliever and emWave PC/Mac Stress Relief System are effective solutions based on the principle of learning to change your heart-rhythm patterns and creating physiological coherence in the body. It helps students gain internal awareness and self-regulation while improving their behavior, learning and test scores.

A national study funded by the U.S. Department of Education found that the ability of students to self-activate coherence was associated with a reduction in test anxiety as well as an improvement in test scores on high-stakes tests. Schools and universities around the country are installing emWaves in their computer labs, classrooms, counseling centers and libraries.

The emWave Personal Stress Reliever^® is an easy-to-use, hand-held device for smoothing out heart-rhythm patterns and creating physiological coherence that can help give sustained stress relief and emotional balance anytime, anywhere. For ages 8 and up. Go to emWave PSR.

The emWave PC/Mac Stress Relief System is a computer-based interactive learning system that helps students generate a state of synchronized inner coherence, helping them "get in sync". By seeing the changes in real time they can better appreciate how anxiety affects their brains and bodies and then can practice reversing these effects. It’s easy to use and noninvasive. Play interactive games and review sessions. For children ages 6 and up. Go to emWave PC or emWave Mac.

About HeartMath for Educators

Professional Development

Not only students, but teachers, administrators and other educators also have benefited from the HeartMath tools and techniques. On the one hand, their students perform and behave better inside and outside the classroom, and on the other educators themselves have used these same tools to improve their own lives.

"Words seem inadequate to describe the quality of support, caring, understanding and encouragement that IHM has and demonstrates for teachers and the teaching profession," said teacher Lynne Marsh of the Long Beach Unified School District in California. "It’s the ultimate anti-burnout prescription. The bonding and sharing of ideas and concerns is truly outstanding and helps to support confidence and hope as well as providing tools for taking care of yourself."

In addition to personally benefiting from HeartMath programs such as TestEdge, teachers also have IHM’s widely successful Resilient Educator^® program available to them. The Resilient Educator is a highly relevant training program that helps educators boost performance, improve school relationships and strengthen resiliency. Acclaimed by educators for its new ideas and solid foundation in neuroscience, the program’s proven techniques are easy to learn and help rekindle educators’ motivation, energy and why they went into the profession in the first place. It teaches practical, research-based tools and strategies to stop the negative impacts of stress – mentally, emotionally and physically. The program has received high marks from teachers and administrators across the country, including 97% of a large group of elementary teachers in Arizona who said the training was beneficial and relevant.

The Qualified Instructor Program^® is a three-day train-the-trainer program designed for professional trainers, educators and consultants who are experienced in training groups of adults. This program is a cost-effective means of providing HeartMath skills to teachers, administrators and other school staff. Those who complete this program are qualified and certified to provide Institute of HeartMath workshops within educational settings. Go to Qualified Instructor Program.

HeartMath’s Educational Research/Studies

The Institute of HeartMath has conducted extensive cutting-edge educational research and studies recognized around the United States and elsewhere in the world for their contributions to the science of learning. Our investigations are ongoing and enable the HeartMath Education Division to formulate age-appropriate learning programs, materials and technology. Following are some of IHM’s studies:

TestEdge^® National Demonstration Study

In a major educational study, IHM, in collaboration with faculty and graduate students at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, Calif., and with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, investigated the ability of TestEdge^® to reduce stress and test anxiety and improve emotional well-being, quality of relationships and academic performance in public school students.

The TestEdge National Demonstration Study (TENDS) found that 61% of all students in a HeartMath intervention group and a control group reported being affected by test anxiety, with 26% experiencing high levels often or most of the time. Following the intervention group’s participation in the TestEdge program, 75% of those who had reported experiencing test anxiety at the beginning of the study had reduced levels by the end of the study.

The TestEdge group learned simple techniques for calming themselves, stopping the "mental noise" that can block recollection of important test material and prevent them from focusing their complete attention on the task at hand. Go to TENDS.

Stress in Middle School Students

This joint IHM/Miami Heart Research Institute study examined the impact of a HeartMath emotional-management program on psychosocial functioning and physiological responses to stress in students at Palm Springs Middle School in Hialeah, Fla., near Miami. School counselors had observed that many students in the study, including high achievers, were distracted at school by various social pressures and negative emotions such as anxiety and depression, which diverted their attention from focused learning.

Following participation in the HeartMath program, there were significant improvements in 17 of the 19 areas of psychosocial functioning that were measured, including anger management, teacher comfort, self-reliance, work management and focus, perceptions of family support/satisfaction and risky behavior. After the training, the students scored well above the average range on many of the scales on which they had previously scored below the norm. Go to The Impact of an Emotional Self-Management Skills Course.

Cardiac Coherence and Cognitive Performance

This study assessed changes in cognitive performance associated with states of increased heart-rhythm coherence, which is marked by smooth and balanced heart rhythms. In this investigation, 30 subjects were randomly divided into matched control and experimental groups based on age and gender. Cognitive performance was assessed by determining the subjects’ reaction times in an auditory discrimination task before and after practicing the Cut-Thru emotional self-management technique for increasing cardiac coherence. Subjects using the Cut-Thru technique demonstrated a significant decrease in reaction times in the discrimination task compared to the control group, indicating improved cognitive performance. Also, a significant relationship was found between the degree of heart-rhythm coherence and reaction times, with greater cardiac coherence associated with significant decreases in reaction times. Go to Cardiac Coherence.

Independent Study of HeartMath Techniques

In an early assessment of HeartMath techniques in an educational setting, Dr. Edie Fritz, an educational psychologist at an inner-city elementary school in Phoenix, was charged with helping a small group of struggling fifth- and sixth-grade special education students, most with behavioral and/or academic problems, who were placed in her three-week summer class so she could try to help many of them advance to the next grade level. With so little time and knowing the ineffectiveness of various methodologies in helping them over the years, Fritz opted to teach them HeartMath techniques and provided very little traditional reading instruction. Not only did the children’s reading scores increase dramatically – an average growth of 1.5 years in grade level – but their attitude and behavior in the classroom also showed excellent improvement as well. Go to HeartMath Techniques Study.

College Prep Readiness Program Study

The University of Cincinnati Clermont College and the Greater Cincinnati Tech Prep Consortium partnered with each other and enlisted the aid of the Institute of HeartMath for emotional management training to address the mathematics needs of students at Bethel High School in Bethel, Ohio, to prepare them for higher education. Mathematics remediation is a major barrier for high school students transitioning into college. HeartMath’s highly acclaimed Freeze Frame^® and Heart Lock-In^® techniques, music by IHM founder Doc Childre and other elements of the HeartMath System were employed with various groups of students over four years. Results included that the average improvement of students scores on the ACT’s COMPASS placement test, comparing students scores taken before and after HeartMath interventions, were as follows: 2002, 19%; 2003, 15%; 2004, 24%; 2005, 73%. Go to College Prep Readiness Program Study.

Effects of HeartMath Program Intervention on ADHD Students

Hunter Kane, HeartMath’s representative in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe, conducted a study to monitor the effects of a HeartMath intervention program on a group of 100 students with ADHD – attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. All the children underwent a noninvasive cognitive function test and completed a standardized 10-minute protocol on HeartMath’s Freeze-Framer^®, now the emWave^® PC/Mac Stress Relief System, which established levels of cardiovascular coherence. Among the results was that there was a statistically significant increase in the quality of verbal episodic memory (QVEM) with the HeartMath intervention group and a less-than-significant increase in the placebo control group, which received HeartMath intervention near the end of the study; speed of recall and accuracy of recall increased significantly in the intervention group only; and the intervention group’s cardiovascular coherence scores, measured using Freeze-Framer, increased significantly from the prestudy scores, whereas the control group’s scores declined over the six-week study period. Go to Study With ADHD Students.