Mindfulness
January 1, 2022
Nicholas I Bowles, Jonathan N Davies, Nicholas T Van Dam
54 citations
Benefits of meditation accumulate over time in a non-linear fashion, with the strongest gains occurring in roughly the first 500 hours of practice before leveling off. In a cross-sectional survey of 1,668 meditators averaging 1,095 lifetime hours, greater historical practice was associated with better psychological outcomes, including higher positive affect and life satisfaction and lower psychological distress and negative affect. The type of practice mattered: Vipassana (as taught by S.N. Goenka) and cultivating practices like compassion and lovingkindness were more strongly linked to favorable outcomes. The results suggest that the dose-response relationship between meditation practice and wellbeing is not linear and depends on practice context.
Brain research bulletin
October 15, 2023
Saampras Ganesan, Bradford A Moffat, Nicholas T Van Dam et al.
13 citations
Using 7 Tesla functional MRI, a pilot study scanned 10 beginner meditators during focused attention meditation (attending to breathing) and non-focused rest. After adjusting for physiological differences, meditation reduced activity in default-mode network hubs (antero-medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, precuneus) and visual and thalamic regions compared to rest. These reductions survived stringent corrections for physiological fluctuations. State mindfulness scores rose significantly after the session and remained elevated at a 2-week follow-up. The findings support evidence that focused attention meditation dampens default-mode activity tied to self-referential processing and demonstrate the feasibility of ultra-high field fMRI for meditation research.
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
December 1, 2024
Roman Palitsky, Nicholas K Canby, Nicholas T Van Dam et al.
6 citations
Research on adverse effects (AEs) of psychedelics has been limited, leading to underspecified profiles and potential undercounting. This article argues that meditation-related AE research, which shares phenomenological and contextual features with psychedelic AEs, offers valuable insights. An integrative review of both fields is presented, recommending that meditation AEs serve as a comparator condition. The authors propose adopting detailed, comprehensive, user-informed, impact-based, standardized, unbiased, and representative measures of AEs, along with examining factors that influence their impacts and trajectories, to advance psychedelic AE research.
BMC complementary medicine and therapies
December 4, 2025
Jonathan N Davies, Cate Bailey, Julieta Galante et al.
1 citation
About 41.5% of Australian and 35.7% of New Zealand adults have ever used meditation, with 32.8% and 24.9% using it in the past year. Younger age and higher education consistently predicted past-year use in both countries. In Australia, additional predictors included female gender, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ancestry, unmet mental health care needs, and receipt of complementary care. In New Zealand, identifying as LGBTQIA+ was a strong positive predictor, while not receiving medical care was linked to lower odds. Over 21.7% of Australian and 17.6% of New Zealand meditators reported a meditation-related adverse effect.
JMIR mHealth and uHealth
June 8, 2026
Julia Adams, Jonathan Davies, Prai Wattanatakulchat et al.
Meditation app use is generally low: half of users engage for 16 minutes or less in the first month after download, and fewer than 20% continue past 14 days. Intended use far exceeds actual use. Higher engagement is associated with expectation match, expectations for anxiety and attention, conscientiousness, satisfaction with life, and well-being, while neuroticism, perceived stress, psychological distress, and lower quality of life are linked to lower engagement. Readiness to change uniquely predicts higher engagement. Acute stress motivates use, but chronic stress disrupts it. Engagement is best when experiences match expectations and users are prepared to change.
Scientific reports
May 8, 2026
Erola Pons, Julieta Galante, Nicholas T Van Dam et al.
Depersonalization and derealization (DPDR) involve feeling detached from one's body, thoughts, or emotions, typically triggered by trauma, stress, or drugs and causing high distress. Similar experiences arise during meditation, where they are often described as positive and meaningful. This cross-sectional study compared DPDR-like states triggered by meditation (60 participants) versus other triggers (61 participants). The meditation-triggered group rated their experiences as substantially more positive, though most participants in both groups described them as mixed. Meditation-induced DPDR occurred across types and experience levels. These experiences are phenomenologically similar but more welcome, pleasant, and spiritually meaningful than those from trauma or cannabis, though distress is not uncommon. Contemplative approaches may inform clinical support for DPDR, and guidance within meditation settings is needed.
Journal of medical Internet research
February 2, 2026
Julia Adams, Jonathan Davies, Prai Wattanatakulchat et al.
Most people who download meditation apps use them very little. In a survey of 536 recent users across five English-speaking countries, those who were more educated, more open to new experiences, and who held stronger beliefs that meditation apps would help them were more likely to engage regularly. Readiness to change, expectations for sleep and thriving, and perceived app quality and appeal were also linked to greater use. Age and higher education were among the strongest predictors of engagement. The findings suggest that user characteristics and attitudes toward the app matter more than mental health symptoms for determining how much someone uses a meditation app.
JMIR research protocols
July 29, 2025
Nicholas Bowles, Alexander Burger, Jonathan N Davies et al.
A proposed randomized controlled trial will test whether longer daily mindfulness meditation sessions produce greater improvements in well-being. Healthy adults aged 18–65 will be assigned to 4-week online courses with 10, 20, or 30 minutes of daily practice, or a 4-minute control condition. The primary outcome is psychological well-being, measured at baseline, midintervention, postintervention, and one-month follow-up. The trial aims to enroll at least 688 participants; as of end of 2024, 70 eligible participants were enrolled. Results are expected by March 2026.
Pilot and feasibility studies
March 15, 2025
Anita B Amorim, Trudy Rebbeck, Nicholas T Van Dam et al.
A pilot randomized controlled trial will test the feasibility and acceptability of an online mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program for people with chronic musculoskeletal pain who are on waitlists for multidisciplinary pain clinics in Australia's public healthcare system. Thirty-two participants from two clinics in Sydney will be randomly assigned to either the online MBSR group or usual care. The study will assess feasibility, patient-reported outcomes, adherence to mindfulness practice, and adverse events using validated questionnaires, along with qualitative interviews to explore participants' experiences. Results will guide the design of larger future trials.