Skip to content
Surprising Science

Light Meditation Helps the Brain

Just a few weeks' worth of light meditation can change the structure of your brain, seemingly for the better. Thirty minutes a day can actually increase people's capacity for learning.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital asked their sixteen study participants to take part in an eight-week meditation program centered on building non-judgmental recognition of one’s own feelings and sensations. The participants only had to meditate for thirty minutes a day. After the program was completed, the researchers imaged the participants’ brains. The gray-matter in the hippocampus had consistently increased, which suggests an increase in their capacity for learning and memory building.


Related

Up Next