If you’re keen to improve your children’s performance at school, it might be worth signing them up for mindfulness training online, as it is now being suggested that the practice could improve maths skills and emotional and social learning.

A study conducted to test the effects of MindUP (which puts a strong emphasis on kindness and mindfulness exercises) found that children who practised techniques such as mindful eating and smelling, as well as meditation, registered 15 per cent better scores in maths, were 24 per cent less aggressive and displayed 24 per cent more social behaviours, Time reports.

In addition, they outperformed their classmates in stress levels, cognitive and emotional control, empathy, optimism, aggression and mindfulness.

“I really did not anticipate that we would have so many positive findings across all the multiple levels we looked at,” co-author of the study Kimberly Schonert-Reichl of the University of British Columbia remarked.

She went on to note that far from detracting from academics by incorporating these programmes in schools, the schemes actually help to improve academic gains.

If you’re interested in how your child could benefit, but aren’t sure where to start, why not download one of the many mindfulness apps there are available? Incorporating the use of technology could help spark an interest on the part of your child and really help them get used to certain techniques.

There are numerous ones to choose from, such as Equanimity, which helps you chart your progress over the course of year, or The Mindfulness App, which comes complete with lots of guided meditations.