We have written previous blogs on how meditation changes our brains and behavioral patterns, but exactly how long do you need to meditate each day to start gaining these benefits? And why?

A quick answer would be 20-minutes a day. But there’s so much more to this question.

Rick Hanson is a neuropsychologist, an author, and founder of the Wellspring Institute for Contemplative Wisdom and Neuroscience, and someone we trust. Citing intervention studies that specifically looked at what happens to the brain when people deliberately practice mindfulness, Hanson says that those who meditate 20 minutes most days tend to have different brains in some important and interesting ways.

Let’s look at how the brain changes when that 20-minute mark is met most days over an eight-week period:

1. Meditators build new cortical tissue in the outer shell of the brain. And why is this important? Increasing cortical thickness by even a fraction of a millimeter builds synapses, little connections between neurons.

  • • Thicker cortex behind meditators’ foreheads, means meditators are better able to regulate attention, emotion and actions.
    • Thicker cortex in the insula helps us tune into ourselves and also tune into the emotions of others.
    • Thicker cortex in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that puts things into perspective and calms down the alarm bell of the brain – the amygdala – makes us more resilient.
2. A greater activation of the left prefrontal cortex, which puts the brakes on negative emotions. The result: more positive emotions and a better mood.
3. People have a stronger immune system.
4. As people continue to meditate, they preserve the length of telomeres – strips of atoms at the end of chromosomes – that protect against various age-related diseases.

In a nutshell

Those who adopt a sustained meditation practice of 20 minutes most days achieve:

  • • Better relationships;
    • Greater resilience;
    • Greater happiness;
    • More capacity to weather life’s ups and downs;
    • More insight into yourself;
    • More insight into others;
    • Less depression;
    • Less anxiety;
    • Quicker recovery from various illnesses and surgeries;
    • Faster healing of wounds;
    • Less inflammation in the body;
    • And less stress. (75 percent of people are stressed; 75 percent of our preventable illnesses are caused by stress.)

Perhaps it’s time to close your eyes and begin to breathe. For more information on how to get started, contact us at 203-628-4492 ext. 592 or info@pathwaytomindfulness.com.