What does meditation really do to your brain?

Stress, screen time and sensory overload – the modern world is coming for your brain.

Thankfully, you’ve got a mighty tool in your brain-health arsenal: meditation. Here are 3 ways your regular mindfulness practice keeps your brain fighting fit.

1. Safeguard against stress. Chronic stress can have a neurotoxic effect on the brain. By reducing cortisol levels and calming the nervous system, meditation insulates your brain from the impacts of stress.
2. Capture wandering thoughts. We spend roughly 50 percent of our waking hours mentally checked out, and "a wandering mind is an unhappy mind". Thankfully, meditation enhances the areas of the brain responsible for focusing on the present. Just 5 days of practice leads to better results on tests that measure attention and mental control.
3. Keep your brain young. There’s emerging evidence that a regular meditation practice can stall (and even reverse) the mental deterioration that happens as we age. Turns out it's not just Sodoku that helps you stay sharp!

Make it work: The common thread in most meditation-brain research is that the greatest rewards come to those who practice regularly. No excuses: these 10 ultra-fast sessions are designed to fit into the busiest lifestyles.