| These investigators studied the effect of short, practical meditation practices on emotion and cognitive functioning in meditation-naive participants. They randomized subjects (aged 18-45) who were non-experienced meditators to either 13-minute daily guided meditation sessions or 13-minute daily podcast listening sessions without meditation (control group). The participants continued the meditation or listening sessions for a total duration of eight weeks. The effects of the daily meditation practice compared to podcast listening were assessed for anxiety, mood, prefrontal and hippocampal functioning, at baseline and after four and eight weeks. Emotional regulation was assessed using the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) after eight weeks. The results demonstrated that eight but not four weeks of brief, daily meditation were associated with significantly decreased anxiety and negative mood and enhanced attention and memory. Anxiety scores on the TSST also decreased significantly. The meditation-induced changes in emotional regulation were more strongly linked to improved affect than improved cognition. Overall, this study demonstrated multiple positive effects of meditating for only 13 minutes a day for eight weeks.
Basso JC, et al. Behavioural Brain Research 2019; 356:208-220 |
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