5 ms·

Regular meditation more beneficial than vacation (2016)

61 points by evo_9 6y ago

mttjj 6y ago
Which one improves reading comprehension? Because I had read this headline about three times before I realized it didn’t say ‘Regular medication more beneficial than vaccination’! More on topic: I did some mindful meditation a few years ago when I had some issues to work through. It really seemed to help. I should probably get in the habit of doing it again. That said, I won’t be giving up vacations anytime soon. I don’t even go anywhere. I just take a week off from work and get my mind off of that stress.
- coding123 6y ago
  Same here, I think 80% of my vacations are staycations.
- bighi 6y ago
  > I just take a week off from work A week... Maybe this is article is only comparing daily meditation to the US version of a vacation? A week shouldn't even be called vacation. I find it hard to believe that something as ineffective as meditation could be more beneficial than the 4 weeks to a month of vacation that you have in civilized countries.
skadamou 6y ago
Articles like this pop up on my news feed from time to time and I am always interested to read them to see if there is any kind of concrete action item I can take in order to reap the benefits these types of articles espouse. I'm usually disappointed. I've tried meditation off and on for around a decade and still don't quite "get it." I know my experience is entirely anecdotal but articles like this always feel very pseudo-sciency full of quotes like "Regular meditators showed both the same types of improvements’ at the molecular level" which really turns me off to their conclusions. With that said, I would love to take another look at meditation with an open mind so if anyone has any resources or websites to recommend that helped them, I am all ears!
- circuit8 6y ago
  Totally get where you're coming from. I really recommend the Sam Harris "waking up" app. Really helped me and I think it appeals to the more skeptical and rational people you find on HN.
  - skadamou 6y ago
    Is "waking up" significantly different from apps like headspace? What about "waking up" helped you so much?
    - circuit8 6y ago
      Basically the principles behind meditation are explained at a much deeper level, and in a way that allowed me to transfer it more into my every day life. Headspace seems to just revolve around following the breath, whereas this is just a small chunk of what the waking up app teaches you. I recommend giving the free trial a go and see what you think.
- randythrow 6y ago
  I was the same way. The problem with meditation is that it is like dieting/fitness/going to the gym. You will not see the results right away. It takes a while of consistent effort before you notice any results. I took a 10 day meditation retreat (Vipassana) to get the hang of it. They make you meditate 6 to 8 hours a day for 10 days. This is one way to "get it."
- pmoriarty 6y ago
  What technique of meditation did you try? There are probably dozens if not hundreds of different ways of meditating, and many mistakes one can make in implementing those techniques. If the one particular way you tried did not work for you, I would not necessarily jump to the conclusion that no kind of meditation would work for you, or that there was no room for improvement in your technique. Sometimes going to a teacher or experienced meditator with the particular difficulties you're running in to can help. Also, sometimes meditating in a group can work, as you're then all in it together rather than having to motivate yourself all on your own. Something else to keep in mind is that meditation can take some time to yield results, especially if your practice is brief or sporadic. The more regular and extended your practice is, the more likely you are to notice some results.
EndXA 6y ago
The title seems very misleading to me, because much more than "regular meditation" was involved. Here is how they describe the study in the article: > The study was conducted at a resort in Southern California... The mindfulness intervention was an established meditation and yoga retreat consisting of 12 hours of meditation, nine hours of yoga, and self-reflective exercises over a week. The participants were divided into three groups of about 30 each: experienced meditators, women who had never meditated, and a group who simply “went on vacation.” The 30 “vacation participants” listened to health lectures and then did fun outdoor things for a week. > At the end, all three groups (vacation, novice, and regular meditators) showed statistically significant improvements in scores of stress and depression, which were measured using well-established and commonly used questionnaires. If we stop there, it seems that vacation is just as good as mindfulness exercises for stress reduction and mood lifting. > But what’s really striking are the result from 10 months later: the regular meditators still showed significant improvements on these scores, the novice meditators even more so. However, the vacationers were back to baseline. The researchers had ensured that all three groups were equal in average age, education level, employment status, and body mass index. This finding is in keeping with prior research showing that vacation has beneficial but very temporary effects, and that mindfulness therapies have sustained beneficial effects.
- oehtXRwMkIs 6y ago
  It was regular as in practiced on a regular basis. It's a key term since as you might guess, one-off meditation is much less potent.
dang 6y ago
Discussed at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12869443 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12869443
loopz 6y ago
Now, there are as many meditation practices as there are teachers and practitioners. So approaches and answers may vary wildly. To really investigate, I'd recommed to stay off the self-help books, tapes and apps, and seek out a well-established group doing regular practice. There is more to it and the support can be much more helpful, than just following words and sounds. An experienced meditator could easily slip into meditation anytime just by closing her eyes. Though there is nowhere to go and nothing to attain, practice can be used throughout life. Letting go of expectations is key. A robust group can help through many misconceptions, provide clear path and reassurances, beyond that of meditation alone. If everything is not applicable forever, at least it broadens perspective of life immensely, and provides reference points along more dimensions of possibilities.
Venkatesh10 6y ago
Actually if you do proper yoga and meditation you'll get a better handling of your thoughts. Provided that things are so volatile today in day to day life ,it might not guarantee the same effect as it did hundreds of years back.
ternaus 6y ago
I tried to learn how to meditate a few times. It did not work so far. A few friends told me that they have a similar problem, but after Vipassana they were able to get the idea and started meditating regularly. Sadly the pandemic made all the Vipassana places to close. I hope that in 6 months they will start to reopen.

61 points by evo_9 6y ago

Which one improves reading comprehension? Because I had read this headline about three times before I realized it didn’t say ‘Regular medication more beneficial than vaccination’! More on topic: I did some mindful meditation a few years ago when I had some issues to work through. It really seemed to help. I should probably get in the habit of doing it again. That said, I won’t be giving up vacations anytime soon. I don’t even go anywhere. I just take a week off from work and get my mind off of that stress.

coding123 6y ago
Same here, I think 80% of my vacations are staycations.
bighi 6y ago
> I just take a week off from work A week... Maybe this is article is only comparing daily meditation to the US version of a vacation? A week shouldn't even be called vacation. I find it hard to believe that something as ineffective as meditation could be more beneficial than the 4 weeks to a month of vacation that you have in civilized countries.

skadamou 6y ago

Articles like this pop up on my news feed from time to time and I am always interested to read them to see if there is any kind of concrete action item I can take in order to reap the benefits these types of articles espouse. I'm usually disappointed. I've tried meditation off and on for around a decade and still don't quite "get it." I know my experience is entirely anecdotal but articles like this always feel very pseudo-sciency full of quotes like "Regular meditators showed both the same types of improvements’ at the molecular level" which really turns me off to their conclusions. With that said, I would love to take another look at meditation with an open mind so if anyone has any resources or websites to recommend that helped them, I am all ears!

circuit8 6y ago
Totally get where you're coming from. I really recommend the Sam Harris "waking up" app. Really helped me and I think it appeals to the more skeptical and rational people you find on HN.
- skadamou 6y ago
  Is "waking up" significantly different from apps like headspace? What about "waking up" helped you so much?
  - circuit8 6y ago
    Basically the principles behind meditation are explained at a much deeper level, and in a way that allowed me to transfer it more into my every day life. Headspace seems to just revolve around following the breath, whereas this is just a small chunk of what the waking up app teaches you. I recommend giving the free trial a go and see what you think.
randythrow 6y ago
I was the same way. The problem with meditation is that it is like dieting/fitness/going to the gym. You will not see the results right away. It takes a while of consistent effort before you notice any results. I took a 10 day meditation retreat (Vipassana) to get the hang of it. They make you meditate 6 to 8 hours a day for 10 days. This is one way to "get it."
pmoriarty 6y ago
What technique of meditation did you try? There are probably dozens if not hundreds of different ways of meditating, and many mistakes one can make in implementing those techniques. If the one particular way you tried did not work for you, I would not necessarily jump to the conclusion that no kind of meditation would work for you, or that there was no room for improvement in your technique. Sometimes going to a teacher or experienced meditator with the particular difficulties you're running in to can help. Also, sometimes meditating in a group can work, as you're then all in it together rather than having to motivate yourself all on your own. Something else to keep in mind is that meditation can take some time to yield results, especially if your practice is brief or sporadic. The more regular and extended your practice is, the more likely you are to notice some results.

EndXA 6y ago

The title seems very misleading to me, because much more than "regular meditation" was involved. Here is how they describe the study in the article: > The study was conducted at a resort in Southern California... The mindfulness intervention was an established meditation and yoga retreat consisting of 12 hours of meditation, nine hours of yoga, and self-reflective exercises over a week. The participants were divided into three groups of about 30 each: experienced meditators, women who had never meditated, and a group who simply “went on vacation.” The 30 “vacation participants” listened to health lectures and then did fun outdoor things for a week. > At the end, all three groups (vacation, novice, and regular meditators) showed statistically significant improvements in scores of stress and depression, which were measured using well-established and commonly used questionnaires. If we stop there, it seems that vacation is just as good as mindfulness exercises for stress reduction and mood lifting. > But what’s really striking are the result from 10 months later: the regular meditators still showed significant improvements on these scores, the novice meditators even more so. However, the vacationers were back to baseline. The researchers had ensured that all three groups were equal in average age, education level, employment status, and body mass index. This finding is in keeping with prior research showing that vacation has beneficial but very temporary effects, and that mindfulness therapies have sustained beneficial effects.

oehtXRwMkIs 6y ago
It was regular as in practiced on a regular basis. It's a key term since as you might guess, one-off meditation is much less potent.

dang 6y ago

Discussed at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12869443 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12869443

loopz 6y ago

Now, there are as many meditation practices as there are teachers and practitioners. So approaches and answers may vary wildly. To really investigate, I'd recommed to stay off the self-help books, tapes and apps, and seek out a well-established group doing regular practice. There is more to it and the support can be much more helpful, than just following words and sounds. An experienced meditator could easily slip into meditation anytime just by closing her eyes. Though there is nowhere to go and nothing to attain, practice can be used throughout life. Letting go of expectations is key. A robust group can help through many misconceptions, provide clear path and reassurances, beyond that of meditation alone. If everything is not applicable forever, at least it broadens perspective of life immensely, and provides reference points along more dimensions of possibilities.

Venkatesh10 6y ago

Actually if you do proper yoga and meditation you'll get a better handling of your thoughts. Provided that things are so volatile today in day to day life ,it might not guarantee the same effect as it did hundreds of years back.

ternaus 6y ago

I tried to learn how to meditate a few times. It did not work so far. A few friends told me that they have a similar problem, but after Vipassana they were able to get the idea and started meditating regularly. Sadly the pandemic made all the Vipassana places to close. I hope that in 6 months they will start to reopen.