How Meditation Affects the Brain and Body | Hardworkout Magazine

Key takeaways

- During meditation, activity in the parasympathetic nervous system often increases, which lowers heart rate, slows breathing and reduces muscle tension.

- Breathing is one of the few bodily functions that is both automatically regulated and can be consciously controlled, and slowing it down affects the vagus nerve, which signals that the body can lower its state of readiness.

- Meditation is not about emptying the mind, but about noticing thoughts and feelings as they arise without following them further or reacting automatically.

- A 2024 study found that people who practised mindfulness regularly often had lower amygdala activity than those who did not, and that mindfulness was associated with less anxiety and better stress management.

- Because the brain remains neuroplastic throughout life, repeating the same mental exercise can strengthen the connections between nerve cells used to direct attention.

Meditation has become increasingly popular in recent years, both as a tool for stress management and as part of a healthy lifestyle. Many experience increased calm and better focus after a meditation session, but it is not always clear what is actually happening in the body.

Behind the subjective experience, there are a number of physiological and neurological processes that affect everything from breathing and pulse to attention and emotional regulation. This is also why meditation has gained increased interest in both health, psychology, and neuroscience.

Does meditation affect more than just your thoughts?

Meditation is often described as mental training, but the effects are not limited to thoughts.

When attention is focused on the breath or other sensory impressions, measurable changes occur in both the nervous system and the brain. Several of these reactions are linked to how the body alternates between readiness, rest, and recovery.

Meditation affects, among other things, the interaction between the brain, the autonomic nervous system, and the hormones that regulate the body's stress response.

When attention is shifted away from external impressions and inward toward bodily signals, heart rate, breathing, muscle tension, and the secretion of stress hormones are affected.

This is one of the reasons why meditation is not only experienced as a mental exercise but can also elicit clear physical reactions in the body.

At the same time, meditation is more than passive relaxation. In many forms of meditation, one actively trains to register thoughts, feelings, and sensory impressions without automatically reacting to them.

This combination of focus and calm seems to be an important part of the explanation for why meditation can affect both the body and the brain.

What happens to the nervous system during meditation?

One of the most immediate effects of meditation is that the balance between the two parts of the autonomic nervous system changes.

This system regulates functions that occur automatically, including heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, and body temperature.

During periods of stress, the sympathetic nervous system dominates. The heart rate increases, breathing becomes faster, and the body releases hormones that sharpen attention and prepare the body to react. This is an important survival mechanism that helps us handle challenges. If the body maintains this state of readiness for an extended period, it can affect both sleep, recovery, and overall health.

During meditation, there is often increased activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes rest and recovery. The heart rate decreases, breathing becomes calmer, and muscle tension is reduced.

Why does slow breathing calm the body down?

Breathing appears to play a particularly important role. Many forms of meditation involve slow and controlled breathing. Breathing is one of the few functions in the body that is both automatically regulated and can be consciously controlled.

As breathing slows down, the activity in the vagus nerve, which is an important part of the parasympathetic nervous system, is affected. This helps to lower the heart rate and enhance nerve impulses that signal that the body can lower its state of readiness.

Attention is Trained

How does meditation train attention?

Meditation not only affects how the body responds to stress. It also influences how attention is directed.

When we are not focused on a specific task, our thoughts often wander between memories, plans, worries, and daydreams. This is linked to activity in what is called the default mode network (DMN). The DMN is most active when we are not concentrating on something specific.

During meditation, attention is repeatedly brought back to the breath when thoughts begin to wander. This trains the ability to keep attention directed at what one is doing for longer periods.

Can meditation change the brain itself?

The brain is also capable of changing throughout life. This ability is called neuroplasticity and means that connections between nerve cells can be strengthened or weakened as a result of experience and training.

When the same mental exercise is repeated regularly, connections between nerve cells used to direct attention can be strengthened. This is an example of how experience and training can shape the brain throughout life.

Does meditation change how you react to stress?

Many believe that the goal of meditation is to empty the mind of thoughts. Meditation is usually about noticing thoughts and feelings as they arise, without following them further or reacting automatically to them.

When we become stressed, worried, or frustrated, the reactions often happen quickly. Thoughts can trigger emotions, which in turn affect how we act. During meditation, one practices noticing these reactions before they influence how one feels, thinks, or acts.

The amygdala is an area of the brain that helps detect and respond to potential threats. When we become scared, worried, or stressed, activity here often increases rapidly.

In a [study](https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/12/11/2613) published in 2024, researchers found that individuals who practiced mindfulness regularly often had lower activity in the amygdala than those who did not. The researchers also found that mindfulness was associated with less anxiety and better stress management.

This may be part of the explanation for why many experience that stress, worries, and frustration do not trigger as strong reactions as before, or that the reactions pass more quickly.


Sources:

Neurobiological Changes Induced by Mindfulness and Meditation: A Systematic Review – [Biomedicines](https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/12/11/2613)

The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on the Association Between Autonomic Interoceptive Signals and Emotion Regulation Selection – [Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine](https://journals.lww.com/bsam/fulltext/2021/10000/theeffectsofmindfulnessbasedstressreduction.5.aspx)

Investigating the effect of mindfulness training for stress management in military training: the relationship between the autonomic nervous system and emotional regulation – [Springer Nature Link](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40359-024-02322-3)

Exploring the impact of a brief mindfulness-based intervention on autonomic functioning: A multisystem approach – [Science Direct](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938426001368)