A study published October 9, 2026, in the journal Psychophysiology provides a closer look at what happens during a short period of breath-focused mindfulness meditation. Researchers at the University of Wollongong in Australia measured brain activity and skin conductance in 42 young adults, examining whether meditation resembles a straightforward reduction in arousal or a more dynamic state of attention.
Alexander T. Duda, Adam R. Clarke and Robert J. Barry studied 21 female and 21 male participants aged 18 to 35. All had limited previous meditation experience. The researchers recorded electrical activity from the scalp using electroencephalography, or EEG, while also measuring skin conductance, a physiological indicator associated with sympathetic nervous system activity.
Participants completed a brief eyes-closed resting period followed by a 15-minute mindfulness meditation focused on the breath. The meditation included spoken guidance and a silent period of self-directed practice. For the principal analysis, the team examined eight minutes of that silent period, dividing it into four successive two-minute segments to investigate changes within the session.
The results showed greater theta-band brain activity during meditation than during rest. Exploratory analyses also suggested changes in slower delta activity as the session progressed. By contrast, the researchers did not find a reliable overall difference in skin conductance between rest and meditation. Their findings therefore do not support a simple picture in which meditation uniformly turns down physiological arousal.
Another analysis found a positive relationship between alpha activity and skin conductance during meditation after accounting for individual differences and time within the session. The researchers interpret the broader pattern as compatible with relaxed alertness, a state involving continued attentional engagement rather than merely becoming less activated. Some exploratory differences between male and female participants were also reported, but the authors stress that those observations need replication.
For meditation teachers, the findings offer a useful caution about language. Describing mindfulness as relaxation may be understandable, yet it can obscure the active work of noticing, sustaining attention and returning to the breath. A person might be practicing attentively without experiencing an obvious or continuous decline in physiological activation.
The study has important limits. Its sample was small and consisted of relatively inexperienced meditators. Breathing patterns and participants’ moment-to-moment subjective experiences were not recorded, making it difficult to separate attention-related changes from other influences. The research did not test long-term wellbeing outcomes or compare multiple meditation traditions. It adds detail to the physiology of one brief practice, rather than establishing a universal brain signature of meditation.
Source: Psychophysiology
Web: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psyp.70425
