A claim you hear on longevity podcasts

Does meditating 13 minutes a day improve focus and memory?

The claim checked: 13 minutes of daily meditation for at least eight weeks can improve attention and memory Hear it at 2:00:44

What do the studies say?

Conflicting

Two pooled analyses split on whether mindfulness training improves attention more than active controls; one app trial found more self-reported attention at week 8.

Computed from 3 studies that test this point, each judged by two readers, in full. Sources land on both sides. 5 more studies are waiting for a full read and do not count yet.

What was said on the podcast?

“First of all, that daily meditation of 13 minutes can enhance your ability to pay attention and to learn. It can truly enhance memory. However, you need to do that for at least eight weeks in order to start to see the effects to occur”

Andrew Huberman, Huberman Lab · Understand & Improve Memory Using Science-Based Tools · 2:00:44 on YouTube
Comes up in 13 episodes of the show.

Point 1 of 2 Conflicting

13 minutes of daily meditation for 8 weeks improves attention in novices

Agree 1

pooled analysis · 2024

“MBIs vs. active controls had significant effects on global cognition (g = 0.208), executive attention (g = 0.192), WM accuracy (g = 0.296), inhibition accuracy (g = 0.192), shifting accuracy (g = 0.200), sustained attention accuracy (g = 0.212), intra-individual coefficient of variation (g = 0.337), and subjective cognitive functioning (g = 0.394), with small-to-moderate effect sizes (Table 2 and Figure 2).”

Mindfulness enhances cognitive functioning: a meta-analysis of 111 randomized controlled trials. Health Psychol Rev
Who: Meditation-naive participants (children to older adults, mean age 34, 58% female), healthy, psychiatric and medical samples, randomized to mindfulness-based interventions vs waitlist/no-treatment or active control
PMID 37578065

Partly agree 1

controlled trial · 2026

“As seen in Table 3 and confirming our hypothesis, those in the Headspace group compared to the control group reported more attention at Week 8 compared to baseline ( t (6115) = 2.73, p = 0.006), whereas the control group reported no difference compared to baseline ( t (6115) = −1.22, p = 0.22).”

Testing How Mindfulness Skills Change for Novice Meditators Using Headspace: Examining Trait Mindfulness and Perceived Stress as Moderators. Stress Health
Who: Novice meditators, non-student university employees aged 18+ (mean age 38.2, 75% female)
PMID 42676108

Disagree 1

pooled analysis · 2022 · landmark

“MBPs did not significantly outperform comparators for attention, declarative memory, nor cognitive aging.”

The Effect of Mindfulness-based Programs on Cognitive Function in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Neuropsychol Rev
Who: Adults (mean age 19-82) in randomized trials of in-person group mindfulness-based programs, clinical and non-clinical, many meditation-naive
PMID 34350544

Point 2 of 2 Not enough evidence

It also improves learning and memory

Two pooled analyses found gains in working memory and executive function, but not in memory for events or several other areas.

Computed from 2 studies that test this point, each judged by two readers, in full. Fewer than 3 sources so far. 4 more studies are waiting for a full read and do not count yet.

Agree 0

None.

Partly agree 2

pooled analysis · 2022 · landmark

“Specific effects were observed for executive function and for working memory (here conceptualized as a subdomain of executive function), but not other individual domains.”

pooled analysis · 2024

“However, MBIs did not positively affect orienting, WM latency, inhibition latency, shifting latency, processing speed, verbal fluency, episodic memory, and cognitive error.”

Disagree 0