Mind & MortalityAnswer
Why Does My Voice Sound Different on a Recording?
You can recognize every word and still be surprised by the speaker. While you talk, your voice reaches you by two routes.
THE QUESTION LIBRARY MIND & MORTALITY
Can meditation change the brain?
Meditation has real but modest benefits, brain-scan headlines often run ahead of the data, and mindfulness, a practice with Buddhist roots, deserves to be understood on its own terms.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Probably, with longer practice, but the evidence that it reshapes brain structure is weaker than many headlines suggest. A small 2011 study reported more gray matter after an eight-week course, but a larger, better-controlled 2022 study found no evidence that the same kind of course changed brain structure. Longer training shows more promise. The benefits people feel have firmer support: a 2014 review of 47 trials found small-to-moderate relief from anxiety, depression and pain. Meditation is not risk-free, and it should not replace medical care.
- A 2014 review of 47 trials with 3,515 people found that mindfulness programs gave small-to-moderate relief from anxiety, depression and pain.
- The same review found no evidence that meditation programs worked better than drugs, exercise or other behavioral therapies.
- A 2022 study combining two trials with 218 people found no evidence that an eight-week mindfulness course changed brain structure more than a matched health program or a waiting list did.
- In a 2020 review of 83 studies, about 8% of people who meditated had a negative effect, most often anxiety or depression.
- Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhism, where it is one part of a path meant to end sorrow and pain.
About this picture
Buddha Shakyamuni Seated in Meditation, a granite sculpture from Nagapattinam in southern India, Chola period, about the 12th century. His hands rest in his lap in the gesture of meditation. Art Institute of Chicago.
WHERE THE EVIDENCE STANDS
How sure are we?
- Mindfulness programs can ease anxiety, depression and pain a little.Goyal et al., JAMA Internal Medicine 2014: 47 randomized trials with active controls, 3,515 adults with a range of health conditions; moderate evidence of improved anxiety (effect size 0.38 at 8 weeks, 0.22 at 3 to 6 months), depression (0.30 and 0.23) and pain (0.33). NCCIH describes a 2018 analysis of 142 groups with more than 12,000 people that found mindfulness approaches worked as well as established treatments for anxiety and depression. Still debated because NCCIH says much of this research has been preliminary or not rigorous and may have been read too optimistically, and Van Dam et al. (2018) cite an estimate (Dimidjian and Segal, 2015) that only 9% of research on mindfulness programs had reached the stage of testing them against an active control.
- A standard eight-week mindfulness course reshapes the structure of the brain.Hölzel et al. (2011) reported increases in gray matter concentration in the left hippocampus and other regions in 16 course participants versus 17 on a waiting list. Kral et al. (2022), with 218 randomized participants and active and waitlist controls, failed to replicate this and found no evidence of structural change from the course compared with either control; the authors note that their volunteers were unusually healthy.
- Longer or long-term meditation practice is linked to differences in brain structure.Valk et al. (2017): 332 adults in a study of up to nine months of mental training; attention training mostly thickened the cortex in prefrontal regions. Fox et al. (2014): 21 imaging studies of about 300 meditators showed a medium overall difference, but the authors called publication bias and methodological limitations strong concerns. Kral et al. (2022) suggest that training longer than the eight-week course may be needed to change brain structure.
- Meditation is safe for everyone.Farias et al. (2020): 83 studies with 6,703 participants; 8.3% of participants overall had an adverse event (3.7% in experimental studies, 33.2% in observational ones), most often anxiety, depression and cognitive anomalies, which may occur in people with no past mental-health problems. NCCIH notes that few studies have looked for harms.
- Meditation can lead to the awakening described in Buddhist teaching.The Satipatthana Sutta (Middle Discourses 10) names the goal of mindfulness meditation as ending sorrow and pain and realizing extinguishment (nibbāna). That is a religious goal described in the tradition’s own texts; symptom scales and brain scans do not test it.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET
Nobody knows yet how much meditation, or which kind, is needed to change the brain’s structure, or whether such changes explain the benefits people feel. Many studies are small and short, and few look for harms.
WHAT WOULD CHANGE THIS ANSWER
Large randomized trials with matched control activities that find the same brain changes again and again would strengthen the brain claim. If such trials kept finding nothing, even after longer training, the brain claim would weaken further.
Probably yes, with longer practice, but the evidence that it reshapes brain structure is weaker than many headlines suggest. Meditation is a family of practices used to calm the mind, often by keeping attention on the breath, a sound or the present moment. It has become common. A national U.S. health survey found that the share of adults who meditate rose from 7.5% in 2002 to 17.3% in 2022. Many people meditate to reduce stress. So it is fair to ask what careful studies show.
Start with how people feel. In 2014, a research team reviewed 47 careful trials with 3,515 adults who had a range of health conditions. They used only trials that compared meditation with another activity that took the same time and attention. Mindfulness programs gave small-to-moderate relief from anxiety, depression and pain. There was no evidence that they worked better than drugs, exercise or other behavioral therapies. That is a real benefit, but a modest one.
Now the brain. Studies have shown the brain changing after other kinds of training, such as exercise and balance practice, so some change from meditation would not be surprising. A small 2011 study reported more gray matter in some brain areas after an eight-week course. But in 2022, a bigger and better-controlled test with 218 people found no evidence that the same kind of course changed brain structure. A 2017 study of 332 adults did find changes in the brain’s outer layer after months of daily mental training. So longer practice may matter, and the size of the change is still debated.
Meditation also has deep roots. Mindfulness has its historical roots in Buddhism, where it is one part of a path meant to end sorrow and pain. Science can measure stress, mood and brain scans. It cannot measure whether meditation leads to the goal Buddhist texts describe.
One more honest note. Meditation is not risk-free. In a 2020 review, about 8% of people had a negative effect, most often anxiety or depression. It can help many people. It is a practice, not a promise.
THE LONG ANSWER
THE LONG ANSWER · ABOUT 7 MINUTES
You’ve read your 3 free long answers this month.
The short answer, how sure we are, what we don’t know, what would change our mind and every source stay free on every page, for everyone.
All Access members read the long answer: the evidence piece by piece, the strongest objections, and how to check it yourself.
Join All Access · $1 a week Or $6 a month
Billed $52 once a year. Cancel anytime in your account.
Until December 4, 11:59 pm Pacific: the Founding rate is $39 a year, and it stays $39 while you stay a member.
Create a free account: 6 long answers a month, email only.
Paying never buys a different answer. Our Paywall Promise
Keep asking
Next on the path “Astrology, psychics, awakening: what holds up?” · step 6 of 8
What are near-death experiences, and what do they tell us?
Near-death experiences are real experiences, reported by about 10 to 20% of people who survive a stopped heart.
See this path: Astrology, psychics, awakening: what holds up?
New here?
God Plays Dice answers big questions in plain words, with sources and one of six honest labels.
Words worth knowing (6)
- Mindfulness
- Keeping attention on the present moment without judging it. The term has its historical roots in Buddhism and is now also used in medicine and psychology.
- MBSR
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, an eight-week course introduced in the late 1970s that teaches mindfulness through meditation, yoga and body awareness in weekly group classes.
- Active control
- A comparison activity that takes the same time and attention as the treatment, such as a health class. It helps show whether the treatment itself made the difference.
- Meta-analysis
- A study that combines the results of many earlier studies to get a clearer overall answer.
- Cortex
- The brain’s thin, folded outer layer. Some imaging studies measure how thick it is.
- Cross-sectional study
- A study that compares different groups at one moment. It can show a difference but not what caused it.
Sources & further reading
(9) · Checked Sep 29, 2026
- Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Goyal et al.) ↗JAMA Internal Medicine 174(3):357–368 (2014)Abstract (PubMed 24395196): 18,753 citations, 47 trials, 3,515 participants; RCTs with active controls for placebo effects; moderate evidence for anxiety (0.38 at 8 weeks, 0.22 at 3–6 months), depression (0.30, 0.23) and pain (0.33); low evidence for stress/distress and mental-health quality of life; low evidence of no effect or insufficient evidence for positive mood, attention, substance use, eating, sleep and weight; no evidence better than drugs, exercise or other behavioral therapies; “small to moderate reductions.” Free author manuscript PMC4142584 (its abstract says 17,801 citations and 3,320 participants; its methods section and the published abstract say 18,753 citations; the page uses the published figures): active control defined as a program matched in time and attention; trials had to include participants with a clinical condition, defined broadly to include mental health conditions such as anxiety or stress and physical conditions such as low back pain or heart disease; first author Madhav Goyal, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University.
- Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation (Van Dam et al.) ↗Perspectives on Psychological Science 13(1):36–61 (2018)15 authors; Lazar SW (Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School) is also an author of Hölzel et al. 2011. Full text PMC5758421: “harmed, misled, and disappointed”; mindfulness has its historical footing in Buddhism; MBSR introduced in the late 1970s; Mind and Life Institute from 1987 with dialogues between the Dalai Lama and scientists; cited estimate (Dimidjian and Segal, 2015) that a mere 9% of MBI research was at the stage compared against an active control; neuroimaging pitfalls (group averages, cross-sectional designs, head motion and breathing artifacts, small samples), partly mitigated because findings supported by meta-analyses of multiple studies are less likely to stem merely from artifacts; fewer than 25% of trials actively assess adverse events; adverse effects discussed in many traditional (largely Buddhist) guides.
- Absence of structural brain changes from mindfulness-based stress reduction: Two combined randomized controlled trials (Kral et al.) ↗Science Advances 8(20):eabk3316 (2022)University of Wisconsin–Madison; 218 meditation-naive participants (no prior training or formal practice in meditation) randomized to waitlist (70), MBSR (75) or a validated, matched active control, the Health Enhancement Program (73: exercise, music therapy, nutrition education); “largest and most rigorously controlled study to date”; failed to replicate prior findings, no evidence of neuroplastic change versus either control. Full text PMC9122316: MBSR (yoga, meditation, body awareness) changed amygdala reactivity and connectivity in sample one and PCC connectivity in sample two; the active control raised self-reported mindfulness about equally; cross-sectional studies of long-term meditators may reflect preexisting differences and lifestyle factors; brain structure changes after other training such as aerobic exercise and balance training; a well-powered study with training 50% longer than MBSR (Valk et al. 2017) found cortical thickness increases, and interventions longer than the standard 8-week course might be required to change brain structure; limitation: unusually healthy samples, while prior studies drew people seeking stress reduction who may have had more “room for improvement.”
- Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density (Hölzel et al.) ↗Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 191(1):36–43 (2011)Abstract (PubMed 21071182): Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; 16 healthy meditation-naive participants before and after the 8-week MBSR program vs 17 waitlist controls; increases in gray matter concentration in the left hippocampus, posterior cingulate, temporo-parietal junction and cerebellum; regions tied to learning and memory, emotion regulation, self-referential processing and perspective taking. Full text (PMC3004979): MBSR is eight weekly group meetings of two and a half hours plus one full day.
- Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis (Fox et al.) ↗Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 43:48–73 (2014)Abstract (PubMed 24705269): 123 morphology differences from 21 studies of about 300 practitioners; eight regions consistently altered; global medium effect (d = 0.46); “Publication bias and methodological limitations are strong concerns.”
- Structural plasticity of the social brain: Differential change after socio-affective and cognitive mental training (Valk et al.) ↗Science Advances 3(10):e1700489 (2017)Abstract and full text (PMC5627980): 332 healthy adults aged 20 to 55; 9-month program of daily exercises and weekly group sessions; present-moment attention module resembled mindfulness interventions and mostly increased cortical thickness in prefrontal regions; changes correlated with improvements in attention; experience-dependent brain change known in sensory, motor and cognitive domains.
- Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: a systematic review (Farias et al.) ↗Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 142(5):374–393 (2020)Abstract (PubMed 32820538): 83 studies, 6,703 participants; 55 studies (65%) reported at least one adverse event; prevalence 8.3% overall, 3.7% experimental, 33.2% observational; most common anxiety, depression and cognitive anomalies; may occur in people with no previous mental-health history.
- Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety ↗National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH)Meditation is used to calm the mind, often by focusing on breathing, a sound or the present moment; mindfulness means attention on the present moment without making judgments; a mantra is a repeated word or phrase; history of thousands of years, many techniques from Eastern traditions; NHIS: adults meditating rose from 7.5% (2002) to 17.3% (2022); usually considered to have few risks, but few studies examined harms; 2020 review about 8% negative effects, similar to psychological therapies; 2018 analysis of 142 groups of participants with diagnosed psychiatric disorders such as anxiety or depression (more than 12,000 participants) found mindfulness better than no treatment and as good as evidence-based treatments for anxiety and depression; 2021 analysis of treatment for diagnosed anxiety disorders found no long-term effects beyond 2 months in the few studies that checked; much research preliminary or not scientifically rigorous and may have been interpreted too optimistically; in 3 MBSR studies (521 participants) mindfulness practices were not more harmful than no treatment; brain studies difficult to interpret; do not replace conventional care; ask about instructor training. Page shows “Last Updated: June 2022.”
- Mindfulness Meditation (Satipaṭṭhānasutta, Middle Discourses 10), translated by Bhikkhu Sujato ↗SuttaCentralRead via the SuttaCentral API (bilarasuttas/mn10/sujato). mn10:2.1: the four kinds of mindfulness meditation are “to get past sorrow and crying, to make an end of pain and sadness … and to realize extinguishment” (Pali: nibbānassa sacchikiriyāya). mn10:4.2: sits, sets the body straight, brings mindfulness to the present. Translator’s notes: this discourse and DN 22 are the most influential texts for modern Theravada meditation; satipaṭṭhāna is the seventh factor of the noble eightfold path. Licence (SuttaCentral bilara-data publication record scpub3): Creative Commons Zero (CC0), dedicated to the public domain.
See a mistake? Report a problem. Corrections are made openly.