Can meditation make you feel worse? What new research reveals about safety, duration and results

Meditation is usually presented as a simple way to feel calmer. You close your eyes, focus on your breathing and expect your thoughts to settle. When the opposite happens, it can be confusing. Your mind becomes busier, an uncomfortable emotion rises to the surface or sitting quietly makes you more aware of the tension already inside you.

Can meditation make you feel worse? For some people, certain practices can produce temporary discomfort or an increase in difficult emotions. Recent research suggests that brief meditation is reasonably safe for most adults, but it also confirms that no practice works positively for everyone. The type of exercise, its duration, the person’s emotional state and the intended outcome all matter.

Why meditation does not affect everyone in the same way

“Meditation” describes many different practices. Mindfulness asks you to observe present experience. Loving-kindness directs warm intentions towards yourself and other people. Gratitude shifts attention towards what you appreciate. Body-based practices may combine movement, breathing and focused awareness.

These exercises may feel similar from the outside, but they do not ask the mind and body to do the same thing. They should not be expected to produce identical results.

A person experiencing mild everyday stress might find it helpful to sit quietly and observe their breathing. Someone feeling emotionally overwhelmed may become more aware of thoughts and sensations they were trying to avoid. A person struggling with loneliness might find loving-kindness comforting, while another may become more conscious of the connection they are missing.

The practice is interacting with the emotional state that is already present. This is why a meditation can feel peaceful one day and difficult the next.

Brief meditation appears reasonably safe for most adults

A large randomized study examined distress during short digital practices involving mindfulness, self-compassion and gratitude. More than 5,000 adults from the United States and the United Kingdom took part.

Overall, 4.1 percent of participants reported a distressing experience during the activity, while 7.1 percent experienced an increase in negative emotion. People assigned to meditation were no more likely to report distress than those asked to use the internet normally. They were also less likely to experience a clinically relevant increase in negative emotion.

This is reassuring, but it does not mean uncomfortable responses never occur. The researchers also found that 10-minute practices were more likely to produce distressing experiences than 5-minute practices.

The study only examined immediate reactions to a single brief digital exercise. It cannot tell us what happens during intensive retreats, longer sessions, months of practice or meditation among people with complex mental health conditions. However, it challenges the assumption that a longer session is automatically a better session.

Five focused minutes may sometimes be more appropriate than forcing yourself to continue when you feel increasingly unsettled.

Loving-kindness meditation may not produce the result you expect

Another randomized trial followed 69 adults who completed either four weeks of online loving-kindness meditation or progressive muscle relaxation.

The researchers expected loving-kindness meditation to improve social wellbeing and reduce pain. It did neither. Participants did not report less pain, tolerate discomfort for longer or experience greater social wellbeing than those practising muscle relaxation. The relaxation group actually reported a larger increase in perceived social support.

This does not prove that loving-kindness meditation has no value. The trial was small, and it took place during the early COVID-19 pandemic, when normal social contact was heavily restricted. The study does show that the emotional meaning of a practice does not guarantee a measurable benefit.

A meditation focused on love and connection may sound like the obvious choice for loneliness. However, loneliness is not only an internal feeling. It can also reflect a genuine lack of supportive relationships. A meditation may change how you relate to the feeling, but it cannot create the conversation, friendship or physical presence you need.

Sometimes relaxation helps. Sometimes reflection helps. Sometimes the next step involves another person.

Yoga may help because it combines several forms of support

A third study involved 88 teenage athletes experiencing the combined pressures of school and competitive sport. Half completed an eight-week yoga programme involving physical postures, breathing and meditation. The sessions lasted 60 minutes and took place six days a week.

Compared with participants on a waiting list, the yoga group reported improvements in depression, anxiety, stress and general mental wellbeing. They also showed changes in resting heart rate and other physical measurements.

The results are encouraging, but they cannot be attributed to meditation alone. The programme included movement, breathing, instructor contact and a regular routine. It was also far more intensive than a short audio meditation.

This may be exactly why it helped. Wellbeing often responds better to a combination of practices than to one isolated technique. Movement can release physical tension. Breathing can regulate arousal. Meditation can develop awareness. A scheduled session can provide structure and a sense of commitment.

The lesson is not that everyone needs to practise yoga for an hour six days a week. It is that a short meditation and a complete mind-body programme are not interchangeable.

How to recognize when a meditation is becoming unhelpful

A practice can be uncomfortable without being harmful. Noticing restlessness, sadness or frustration does not automatically mean that something has gone wrong. Meditation often makes us more aware of feelings that were already present.

The important question is whether the experience remains manageable.

Temporary discomfort may settle when you open your eyes, move your body or return your attention to the room. A more concerning response may leave you feeling disoriented, panicked, emotionally flooded or unable to return to your usual activities. Repeatedly forcing yourself through that reaction is unlikely to be useful.

Meditation should not become a test of endurance. Changing the practice, reducing its duration or stopping for the day can be a thoughtful response rather than a failure.

Five ways to practise meditation more safely

1. Decide what you need from the practice

Choose the exercise according to your present need. A body scan may help you reconnect with physical sensations. Slow breathing may be more appropriate before a stressful event. Mindfulness can help you observe thoughts, while movement may suit you better when sitting still feels unbearable.

A meditation title cannot guarantee the outcome, so pay attention to how the practice actually affects you.

2. Begin with a short session

Five minutes can be enough when you are new to meditation or emotionally tired. A shorter practice makes it easier to observe your response without feeling trapped in the exercise.

You can gradually increase the duration if the practice remains comfortable and useful. There is no reason to assume that 20 minutes is automatically more effective than five.

3. Keep part of your attention connected to the room

Meditation does not always require closing your eyes or turning completely inward. You can keep your eyes softly open, feel your feet against the floor and notice the sounds around you.

This external connection can be particularly useful when internal sensations or thoughts begin to feel overwhelming.

4. Give yourself permission to change the practice

If focusing on the breath increases your anxiety, move your attention to the contact between your body and the chair. If sitting still feels uncomfortable, try walking slowly or stretching. If loving-kindness brings up grief, choose a neutral grounding exercise instead.

A practice should be adapted to the person, rather than forcing the person to adapt to the practice.

5. Know when additional support is appropriate

Persistent panic, dissociation, traumatic memories or a significant deterioration in mood require more than a meditation recording. Stop the practice and consider speaking with a qualified mental health professional.

Meditation can complement professional support, but it should not replace appropriate care for serious or persistent symptoms.

Meditation works best when expectations remain realistic

Meditation can help us notice our experience, calm physical tension and respond more deliberately to difficult thoughts. It cannot promise relaxation every time, remove physical pain reliably or replace the human connection that loneliness may require.

For people who want a broader approach to anxiety, Taming the Anxious Mind combines calming practices with an understanding of anxious thoughts and reactions. When the main difficulty is mental overload, The Overwhelmed Mind Detox offers a more structured way to reduce pressure instead of relying on meditation alone.

The aim of practice is not to tolerate any reaction because meditation is supposed to be good for you. It is to learn which forms of attention, breathing, movement and rest genuinely support you.

Sources

Simonsson, O., Jiwani, Z., Ruiz, M., et al. (2026). Adverse Experiences in Brief Meditation Practices: Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Mental Health. Published 14 September 2026.

Young, O., O’Connell, K., Nero, N., et al. (2026). Assessing the effect of Loving-Kindness Meditation on pain and social well-being using a randomized controlled trial design. PLOS ONE, 21(9), e0357888. Published 16 September 2026.

Saroha, S., and Bangari, D. (2026). Effect of an Eight-Weeks Yogic Intervention on Psychological Distress, Mental Well-being, and Physiological Regulation among Teenage Student-Athletes. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. Published 12 September 2026.

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