Why Should We Make Daily Meditation a Habit?
Modern life moves at a rapid pace, with stress piling up, making it hard for many people to focus and keep emotions steady. As someone who has long studied habit formation and mental health, I’ve found that certain habits, if consistently maintained, yield compound benefits—the longer you stick with them, the more profound the effects. Reading, exercising, and meditating are prime examples.
While I have maintained reading and exercising steadily for years, meditation was a habit I struggled to form. I tried many times but kept quitting for various reasons. It wasn’t until I committed to a “100-day meditation challenge” that I truly incorporated it into my daily routine.
A special aspect of my personal experience is that I have ADHD, which means executive function difficulties and scattered attention are normal for me. Over the years, I have tried many methods to improve focus with mixed results. Meditation is the one that resonated most deeply. Every time I maintained meditation for about a month, I clearly noticed my attention improving, which motivated me to keep going.
The Profound Impact of Meditation on the Brain
Scientific studies show that meditation causes significant physiological changes in the brain. Specifically, long-term meditation increases activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex—a key area responsible for executive functions such as working memory, planning, attention control, and motivation. This means meditation helps train the brain’s “commander,” improving self-control and focus.
Meditation also strengthens the connection between the prefrontal and parietal networks while suppressing activity in the amygdala, the brain’s center for processing fear and stress. Research shows that after two months of meditation training, people with high stress levels experience a notable shrinkage in amygdala volume, resulting in calmer emotional responses and reduced fear.
Long-term meditation can even thicken the prefrontal cortex, a sign of neuroplasticity—showing the brain’s structure is constantly adapting and optimizing.
Personally, meditation helps me enter a “flow” state—an efficient and focused mental mode. It stabilizes my emotions, allowing me to accept negative feelings calmly. Sometimes it even feels like playing a game from a third-person perspective, objectively analyzing problems without emotional interference. This experience has been both fascinating and deeply beneficial.
After more than six months of consistent practice, I also noticed significant improvements in sleep quality—I fall asleep faster, sleep duration slightly shortens, and I feel more refreshed the next day.
Meditation’s Benefits Go Beyond the Mind
While many benefits of meditation continue to be scientifically explored, my direct experience mainly falls into three categories:
- Improved attention — longer periods of focus with fewer distractions.
- Emotional stability — calmer and more peaceful when facing stress or negative emotions.
- Better sleep quality — faster to fall asleep, deeper rest, and more energy during the day.
It’s worth noting meditation is unrelated to religion and can be practiced independently by anyone. Like physical exercise, it trains the brain to help us face life’s challenges more rationally and with greater discipline.
How to Build a Meditation Habit? My Insights
Honestly, meditation is harder to form into a habit than others, especially for someone with ADHD like me. It is a delayed-feedback habit: you won’t immediately feel its benefits and need to stick with it for weeks or months to see clear results.
Professional offline courses usually suggest around eight weeks to build a habit, but for ADHD patients, it may take 12 or 13 weeks or even longer. Because progress is slow, many people give up early on.
I failed many times too but finally succeeded after two 100-day challenges, turning meditation into a daily routine.
One difficulty is the lack of measurable standards, making it hard to track progress. For example, how focused were you at the start, and how has it changed after meditating for a while? These subtle changes are easy to miss, which can hurt motivation.
Common Beginner Confusions and How to Solve Them
Many think meditation means “sitting and thinking about nothing,” but that’s not true. At first, the brain is very active with scattered thoughts, making it impossible to quiet down. This can cause frustration—trying harder to control your mind only makes it more difficult to focus.
True meditation doesn’t force you to “empty” your mind but teaches you to observe thoughts as they come and go without resisting or clinging to them. You can gently place your attention on your breath, feeling air flowing in and out, letting thoughts naturally drift away like a stream.
Also, try to meditate sitting up, not lying down. Sitting helps you stay awake and avoid falling asleep. If you do fall asleep occasionally while sitting, don’t worry—it means your body needs rest, and meditation can act as supplemental sleep.
Adjusting Your Environment and Mindset
During meditation, noise or distractions around you are inevitable. Don’t treat them as obstacles; instead, learn to accept the natural environment and let these distractions gradually fade from your awareness. Noise is part of life and shouldn’t trigger negative emotions.
I personally find that when I reach a deep state of calm in meditation, inspiration and creativity often flow freely. I recommend keeping a notebook nearby to capture these precious thoughts and fully utilize this brainpower surge.
Practical Persistence Tip: Try Meditating Three Times a Day
In building the habit, I use a practical approach—trying meditation three times daily: shortly after waking up, around 1 PM, and before bed.
Each session doesn’t have to last the full 10 minutes—just attempt to get into the state. If you’re restless or unfocused, try once or twice and then stop without pressuring yourself. Gradually, once a day becomes twice, then three times.
I also try meditating instead of napping during lunch breaks. Though sometimes I still nap, meditation always helps restore my focus afterward.
Closing Thoughts
Meditation is a habit worth investing time in. It not only changes brain structure and function but also sharpens focus, steadies emotions, and improves sleep quality.
Most importantly, meditation isn’t a quick magic fix but a long-term “mental exercise.” If you dedicate ten minutes a day, over time you’ll find your life and thinking quietly transforming—becoming clearer, more disciplined, and composed.
I hope you too can find your own peace and strength through meditation.