Science-Based Meditation Tools to Improve Your Brain & Health | Dr. Richard Davidson

We actually have really good data on this that at least for beginning meditators, if you do it for thirty days and you do it just five minutes a day, you will see a significant reduction in symptoms of depression, symptoms of anxiety, and symptoms of stress. We've shown that repeatedly in randomized controlled trials. You'll see an increase on measures of well-being or flourishing, and we can talk about what those actually mean. You can even see, just with this amount of practice, a reduction in IL-6. IL-6 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine.

[on-hold music] Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. Richie Davidson. Dr. Richie Davidson is a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a pioneer in the study of how meditation impacts the brain, both during meditations, but also how it changes your brain over time, what we refer to as neuroplasticity. Today, we discuss the incredible health and neuroplasticity benefits that come from regular meditation, including very brief meditations of just five minutes per day. Dr. Davidson also dispels many common myths about meditation. For example, contrary to what most people believe, the point of meditation is not to clear your mind or to feel inner peace during the meditation, but rather to observe your thoughts and any stress you might experience during the meditation. And in doing so, it's kind of like the final hard repetitions of resistance exercise or the burn you might feel during cardio, which comes from lactate. In that sense, the stress you feel during meditation and your ability to observe it acts as a sort of lactate of the mind that in turn makes you adapt. It makes you more stress resilient, focused, and peaceful outside of the meditation. Dr. Davidson also explains how your brain changes during different types of meditation, such as open monitoring meditation or eyes open meditation, walking versus seated, and standing meditations, and more. I've been doing meditation over many years, but this conversation with Dr. Richie Davidson changed my daily routine. Afterwards, I immediately started implementing a five-minute-per-day meditation of the sort that Dr. Davidson describes specifically for stress resilience. And I have to say, it's had a profound impact on my levels of mental clarity, focus, and sleep, and stress, just as he explains. In fact, it's proved to be one of the most beneficial practices I've taken on, especially on days when I wake up with tons to do, a little bit stressed or a lot stressed, and if I didn't sleep quite as well as I would've liked. So today you're going to hear about the incredible science of meditation, the brain and bodily changes that occur, but also how you can rewire your brain using meditation. Dr. Richie Davidson is a true pioneer in this field, being one of the first to bring brain imaging and studies of mindfulness and meditation to the West. He has, of course, authored some of the most impactful research papers on these topics, but also popular books, including a new book coming out later this month entitled Born to Flourish: How to Thrive in a Challenging World, which I myself look forward to reading. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, today's episode does include sponsors. And now for my discussion with Dr. Richie Davidson. Dr. Richie Davidson, welcome.