It’s Great to Meditate!

Start the new year right with a healthy habit that just takes 13 minutes a day. Meditation has ancient roots, but researchers still keep finding new benefits. If you’re stressed, anxious, tired or forgetful, research says meditation could help. 

Here are just some of the research findings from the last few years:

• A brief daily meditation boosted attention, memory, mood and emotion regulation in people just beginning to learn to meditate. How brief? 13 minutes!
• Forget the myth you’ve got to meditate at the same time every day to make the habit stick. Not so, found these researchers. While time of day matters for some, and they prefer to stick to a routine, others are cued to meditate by emotions—such as feeling stressed.
• Meditation before surgery can reduce pain and anxiety, these Mayo Clinic researchers found.
• Using a smartphone app that offers 10- to 20- minute audio meditations can improve wellbeing, job strain and perceptions of workplace support.
• A smartphone meditation app improved sleep disturbances.

13 Minutes?

Julia C. Basso, PhD, assistant professor of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, VA, conducted the study that found 13 minutes of meditation produced benefits. “One of the most exciting findings was the decrease in total mood disturbance,” which mental health experts also call “negative affect,” Basso says.  In other words, it reduces anxiety, fatigue and stress. Her study focused on younger adults, but all those outcomes are important as we age, she says.

Her team assigned participants either to a 13-minute daily guided meditation or a 13-minute daily podcast listening session for eight weeks. Compared to the podcast group, the meditation group reported better attention, working memory and less anxiety when they listened for eight weeks.

What about even shorter sessions, like the five minutes offered on many smart phone apps? “I think these questions are still unanswered,” she says, but adds: “Anything is better than nothing.” And if you’re really strapped for time, she suggests a walking meditation.

Making It a Habit; Be Patient

Chad Stecher, PhD, assistant professor at Arizona State University, Phoenix, looked at whether meditating at the same time every day to build the habit gave greater benefits in more than 2,700 subscribers of a mediation mobile phone app. While using it at the same time every day predicted future ongoing use of meditation, Stecher said time of day didn’t matter for all the participants.

While some preferred to meditate at the same time, others were cued more by emotions, he says. “I would say you don’t have to do it at a certain time [to keep going with the practice.]”

One downside? The effects of meditation may not be immediate. “If I go for a run, I feel it [right away].” The benefits of meditation may take more time, he says. Patience, he says. “The benefit will come.”

How to Start?

Basso suggests going to an introductory class. Many yoga classes now incorporate mindfulness meditation, she says. “I love the involvement of an in-person class,” she says. “There’s a social component, which can be really important.”

Other options: You Tube videos. Google phrases online or on your smartphone such as “5-minute meditation for productivity.” .

UCLA Health posts numerous mindful meditations in multiple languages.  “Try something before you buy in to a monthly subscription,” Basso says.

My Turn: About 10 years ago, I went to a multi-week mindful meditation class offered by my healthcare plan. As a failure at those Catholic school silent retreats, I hoped I’d make it though all the sessions. I did and it was long enough to show me there are benefits to meditation. I meditate—usually 5 minutes, sometimes longer—nearly every day.

Your Turn

Do you take part in Senior Planet’s weekly “Mindful Meditation and Breathing” online sessions?  Have they helped you? Share your experiences in the comments!

 

Kathleen Doheny is a Los Angeles-based independent journalist, specializing in health, behavior, fitness and lifestyle stories. Besides writing for Senior Planet, she reports for WebMD, Medscape, MedCentral and other sites.  She is a mom, mother-in-law and proud and happy Mimi who likes to hike, jog and shop.

 

Photo of Kathy Doheny: Shaun Newton

 

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