Scientists Studied Human Brain Waves and Found That This Activity Showed Health Benefits Within 2 Minutes

4 min read

Meditation has long been hailed as a useful tool for health and wellbeing. It’s also accessible, as you don’t need much beyond a comfortable space to reset your thoughts for a moment before emerging with a clearer head. But carving out time in your busy day can be tricky—especially if you’re trying to meditate and sit still for longer periods. But now, new research suggests that it doesn’t take much time at all to reap the benefits of the practice.

The new study, published in the journal Mindfulness, makes the case for spending just a few minutes meditating. Ultimately, the news could make this practice feel more approachable to people with busy lives.

“Millions of people meditate every day, and yet we had almost no data on the most basic question: When does it start working?” says Balachundhar Subramaniam, MD, MPH, study co-author, professor of anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “That felt like a gap worth closing—both for science and for the enormous number of people who try meditation, feel nothing in the first two minutes, and give up.”

Subramaniam says it’s important to be aware that the “brain is already changing” during the first few minutes of meditation, even when it doesn’t feel like it. Here’s what’s happening when you meditate, plus why a little meditation goes a long way.

Meet the experts: Thea Gallagher, PsyD, clinical associate professor at NYU Langone Health and co-host of the Mind in View podcast; Balachundhar Subramaniam, MD, MPH, study co-author, professor of anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Davide Cappon, PhD, a psychologist and director of neuropsychology at Tufts Medical Center.

What did the study find?

For the study, researchers recruited 103 people and grouped them into three camps based on their meditation experience. One group consisted of 28 people with no prior experience with meditation. The second group consisted of 33 participants who had completed a basic meditation program called Shambhavi Mahamudra, a 21-minute practice centered on breathing exercises and focus. The third group consisted of 42 people who were considered advanced meditators. These folks had been through an intensive eight-day silent retreat that required a 60-day preparation period on a special vegan diet and multiple daily yoga practices. Each group was matched with controls.

Researchers had participants meditate in a temperature-controlled, soundproof room, starting with a period of quiet rest and a breathing exercise, followed by a 15-minute breath-watching meditation. (The control group was given a short training session and practice period beforehand.) Each participant had their brainwaves measured via EEG (electroencephalogram) while meditating.

The team discovered that people in all three groups showed brainwave changes associated with relaxation and calmness as they meditated, and those changes began to appear around the two- to three-minute mark.

Brainwave patterns peaked in intensity between seven and 10 minutes into the session, suggesting that the brain gradually transitions into a relaxed, calm, and attentive state during meditation.

“The data is clear: Meaningful brain changes begin within two to three minutes of sitting down and peak by minute seven,” Subramaniam says. “You do not need a meditation cushion, a retreat, or a paid subscription. You need seven minutes and a willingness to sit.”

What counts as meditation?

While meditation and mindfulness tend to be lumped together, they’re actually not the same thing. “Mindfulness…is a quality of awareness—being present to what you are doing, noticing your experience without judgment,” Subramaniam says. “You can be mindful while washing dishes, walking, or having a conversation. It does not require you to sit down and close your eyes.”

But meditation is a deliberate, formal session where you focus on an “anchor,” like your breath, he explains.

This study focused on a form of meditation known as breath watching. “From a brain perspective, that process of repeatedly noticing distraction and redirecting attention is the key exercise,” says Davide Cappon, PhD, a psychologist and director of neuropsychology at Tufts Medical Center.

How to put this to work for you

Mental health experts praise the findings. “What I appreciate about this study is that it lowers the barrier to entry,” says Thea Gallagher, PsyD, clinical associate professor at NYU Langone Health and co-host of the Mind in View podcast. “A lot of people assume meditation only ‘works’ if they're sitting on a cushion for 30 or 60 minutes a day. This research suggests that even brief periods of focused attention may have measurable effects on the brain.”

But Gallagher says it’s important not to get too focused on seven minutes being a magical number for meditation. “For most people, I would recommend starting with five to 10 minutes a day and focusing on consistency rather than optimization,” she says. “We have a tendency to turn wellness into a performance sport where we're always looking for the perfect protocol. The bigger takeaway here is that you don't need a lot of time to begin building the habit.”

Cappon also notes that meaningful brain changes can happen quickly with meditation, even if you’ve never done it before. And, if you can keep meditating, Cappon says, it’s likely that the perks will grow. “A practice you can sustain most days is likely to provide more benefit than an occasional longer session,” he says.

Subramaniam agrees that a practice that you can return to every day is key. “Our research shows that four to six weeks of consistent daily practice is when the changes move from a temporary state shift to a lasting trait—something that becomes part of how your brain operates, not just how it feels in the moment,” he says. “You do not need to be good at meditation. You do not need to empty your mind. You need to show up, sit down, and stay for seven minutes. The brain will meet you there.”