Assessment
3 Ways Meditation Can Make You Happier
Quieting your mind can help you be less self-critical and more positive
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Science is starting to catch up with what monks have known for thousands of years: Meditation can significantly increase contentment and improve quality of life. A raft of studies have recently shown which parts of the brain respond, and even change, under the influence of meditation.
Whether it’s a simple breathing exercise or a longer guided meditation, the core of just about all contemplative practice is “sustaining attention, calming down, staying present and resting your mind on something beautiful and wholesome,” says Rick Hanson, psychologist and author of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom. “You pull your mind away from the ordinary cares and concerns, resentments and ruminations of a typical day.”
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With regular practice, meditation can teach you to let go of negative thoughts and be more compassionate and resilient, research suggests. This, in turn, can help you cultivate greater empathy and life satisfaction. “A broader perspective happens naturally with age, but meditation amplifies, in a positive way, the wisdom that comes with aging,” says Sara Lazar, a longtime meditator and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard University. Here’s a closer look at how meditation can rewire our brains for the better and make us happier.
1. Reduced depression
“Meditation can lessen negative emotional reactions,” Hanson says. “It hard-wires calm well-being into our brains.” In a study of 80 adults with depression, with an average age of 43 to 45, those who completed an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy program that combined talk therapy with meditation training saw greater improvements in their symptoms compared with a control group that received usual treatment, such as antidepressant medications or no additional therapy. In addition, their brain scans showed changes in areas associated with attention and emotional regulation, indicating that meditation helped change brain patterns linked to rumination, though it didn't completely stop negative thinking. The study was published in 2023 in Biological Psychiatry.
2. Sunnier disposition
Experienced meditators had sunnier dispositions and were less bogged down by worry than non-meditators in a study published in Scientific Reports in 2024 that analyzed people’s answers to questionnaires about their mental states. The 27 meditators and 135 non-meditators, all of whom were over age 65, also received brain scans, which revealed that the meditators had greater brain volume and function in areas involved in memory, attention and emotional balance. The researchers interpreted this to mean that meditation can help protect against age-related brain shrinkage. Meditation, the researchers note, can “foster positive thoughts and emotions” and “enhance cognition, mental health and well-being.”
3. Less self-criticism
After completing an 8-week mindfulness meditation program, 24 adults between the ages of 18 and 65 who also had an anxiety disorder, major depression or both said they viewed themselves with more kindness and less self-judgment. People with a history of childhood trauma reported benefitting the most from the program.
As part of the pilot study, published in the Journal of Mood & Anxiety Disorders in 2025, the participants also received brain scans, which showed new activity in regions responsible for awareness, language and self-reflection. “Because the changes in these brain areas correlated with reductions in self-judgement, it suggests that meditation can help people think about themselves with more compassion and less negative self-talk,” says Diane Joss, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard who coauthored the study with Lazar and others.
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