You’ve probably heard people talk about the benefits of meditation. Countless studies and experts have praised the transformative qualities of the practice.
It’s true—meditation can affect the brain and body in a variety of ways, from reducing the risk of chronic disease to reducing the risk of anxiety and depression.
Perhaps the most famous in the age of burnout is the influence of meditation on stress levels and the ability to reduce the fight or flight reaction, or the acute stress response that activates the sympathetic nervous system and can increase blood pressure.
“Fighting and fleeing is an adaptive response when there is a saber-toothed tiger, but it is not very adaptive when the stress is the morning commute or waiting for a bad email,” Dr. Elizabeth Seng, associate professor of psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University, said fortune.
Mindfulness through meditation can reduce negative thoughts and help you stay in the present moment. This can reduce the heightened stress response in everyday situations.
“You teach yourself not to be aware of the present moment,” says Seng, who works with people who take up meditation for her research. “We want them to focus more on what’s happening now instead of regretting what happened in the past or worrying about what will happen in the future.”
Over time, practicing mindfulness through meditation can improve concentration, clarity, and help process emotions more effectively, Maria Gonzalez, mindfulness coach and author Conscious Leadership: 9 Ways to Self-Awareness, Transform Yourself, and Inspire Others, tell fortune
How meditation affects the brain
Research shows meditation reduces stress, anxiety, and symptoms of depression. A 2016 study found that long-term meditation practice is associated with structural changes in the brain’s “white matter,” which is responsible for “channeling sensory information” and may explain why meditation helps people stay in the present moment and can help combat stress. age-related cognitive decline.
An older study found an increase in gray matter in the brain’s hippocampus, an area associated with memory, emotion regulation, self-processing, and perspective-taking, with regular meditation.
The practice also improves attention, and improves the ability to develop awareness of emotions so they don’t bubble up later, Gonzalez said.
Practicing meditation regulates breathing, says Seng. Unlike in fight or flight mode, when our stress response is heightened, meditation activates the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for calming our nerves.
Imagine the highway system with the infrastructure bill, Seng said. If you keep investing on the road to where you don’t want to go, the road will take longer. Our minds work the same way. The more we fester, catastrophize, and overanalyze, the windier the road becomes, which means our thoughts give us more validity to keep moving forward.
Mindfulness meditation can help us stop the unwanted path and focus on the smaller path of acceptance, presence, and gratitude, which in time, will also increase our confidence. We slowly make new connections in the brain that teach us to let unwanted thoughts pass by like train cars against internalization and loss of focus.
“You make more neural connections with that pathway, so it’s easier for you to go down this path,” he said.
How does meditation affect the body?
Because meditation reduces stress, and chronic stress is a risk factor for other health problems, the physical body benefits from meditation.
“Many chronic diseases are aggravated because the body is in fight or flight,” said Seng. These chronic diseases include heart disease and sleep problems.
Stress also lowers immunity, so sometimes we get colds when we are overwhelmed like studying for an exam. When cortisol (the stress hormone) is constantly elevated, it depresses the body. When the body is relaxed, the immune system is not challenged.
Regular meditation for 8 weeks was also associated with helping migraine symptoms 6 months after the practice, in a study Seng wrote this year.
“Our study found that mindfulness produces a big change in headache-related disability, which is usually like how many days you can’t work, or can’t be with friends because of a migraine attack,” he said.
For those with chronic pain, meditation also improves symptom awareness. When people can detect subtle symptoms early, they can intervene and take medication or other proactive measures, Seng said.
How long do you have to meditate to see results?
Studies show 8 weeks of meditation practice to see results. One study found improvements in memory, emotion regulation, and mood with 8 weeks of 13 minutes of daily meditation. But there is no magic number.
Gonzalez, who has trained many leaders in the practice, says just 10 minutes can make a difference. The most important thing is to provide the technique (that means not checking the job news in the middle of training).
Whether it’s guided meditation, walking meditation, counting your breath, or repeating a mantra, the most important thing is to do it mindfully.
“If someone follows their breath, 10 minutes a day, every day, I’d be surprised if they don’t benefit,” Gonzalez said.
Seng says that starting slowly and incorporating meditation into your day in any form is better than doing nothing at all.
“Find what you think you can do best. This can be more important than starting a stopwatch,” said Seng.