10 Things We Know About the Science of Meditation
There’s still much we don’t understand about mindfulness and meditation. Here’s a run-down of 10 things we do know about meditation and questions that seem fairly settled, for the time being, and questions researchers are still exploring.10 things we don’t understand about meditation.
Meditation almost certainly does sharpen your attention
Studies have shown that improved attention seems to last up to five years after mindfulness training, again suggesting trait-like changes are possible
- Do these benefits apply to people with attention-deficit disorders, and could meditation possibly supplant drugs like Adderall? We can’t yet say for sure.
Mindfulness seems to reduce many kinds of bias
For example, a brief loving-kindness meditation reduced prejudice toward homeless people and decreased unconscious bias against black people and elderly people.
- Social bias isn’t the only kind of bias mindfulness appears to reduce. Several studies convincingly show that mindfulness probably reduces sunk-cost bias, which is our tendency to stay invested in a losing proposition.
Meditation might not be good for everyone
For individuals who have experienced some sort of trauma, sitting and meditating can at times bring up recent or sometimes decades-old painful memories and experiences that they may not be prepared to confront.
- Future research needs to explore the relationship between case histories and meditation experiences, how the type of practice relates to challenging experiences, and the influence of other factors like social support.
How much meditation is enough?
It’s possible that in the next 10-15 years we will see a CDC-style recommendation regarding meditation practice, but to date, the empirical data on the topic are still inconclusive.
- Our recommendation? Try out different durations, types, and frequencies of meditation and jot down how you feel before and after the practice-and see what seems to work for you.
Meditation does seem to improve mental health-but it’s not necessarily more effective than other steps you can take
Early research suggested that mindfulness meditation had a dramatic impact on our mental health.
- As the number of studies has grown, so has scientific skepticism about these initial claims
- Meditation programs were not shown to be more beneficial than active treatments on any outcomes of interest
- The research is also raising some interesting nuances about the effectiveness of meditation for different populations
Kira M. Newman
Editor and web producer at the Greater Good Science Center, and the creator of CaféHappy, a Toronto-based meetup that gathers monthly to discuss how to be happier
Relationships
Mindfulness could have a positive impact on your relationships
- Studies have found a positive link between mindfulness and relationship quality
- It is also linked to better relationships with your kids
- A small 2016 pilot study used neuroimaging to see how mindfulness practice changes the brains of parents-and then asked the kids about the quality of their parenting
Meditation does have an impact on physical health-but it’s modest
There is some good evidence that meditation affects physiological indices of health
- Long-term meditation seems to buffer people from the inflammatory response to stress
- In addition, meditators seem to have increased activity of telomerase, an enzyme implicated in longer cell life and, therefore, longevity
Long-term, consistent meditation does seem to increase resiliency to stress
Mindfulness practices dampen activity in our amygdala and increase the connections between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex.
- These changes are trait-like: They appear not simply during the explicit instruction to perceive the stressful stimuli mindfully, but even in the “baseline” state.
Meditation increases compassion
Many well-designed studies have shown that practicing loving-kindness meditation for others increases our willingness to take action to relieve suffering.
- It appears to do this by lessening amygdala activity in the presence of suffering, while also activating circuits in the brain that are connected to good feelings and love.
What kind of meditation is right for you?
A 2016 study compared four different types of meditation and found that they each have their own unique benefits
- During body scan, for example, participants saw the biggest increases in how aware they were of their bodies and the sharpest decline in the number of thoughts they were having
- If you’re tackling a specific issue-say, feeling disconnected from your body-then you can choose a practice aimed at helping that issue, like the body scan