Check out this answer from Consensus:

Meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, is effective in reducing stress and anxiety, comparable to other stress reduction techniques like relaxation training. It also positively impacts physiological markers of stress and enhances emotional resilience. While meditation is a powerful tool for managing stress, it is not necessarily superior to other active treatments. Establishing a consistent meditation practice can provide significant benefits for stress reduction and overall well-being.

Meditation is widely practiced for its potential to reduce psychological stress and improve overall well-being. This synthesis examines whether meditation is the best activity to reduce stress by analyzing findings from multiple research studies.

Key Insights

  • Effectiveness of Meditation on Stress Reduction:

    • Meditation programs, particularly mindfulness meditation, show moderate evidence of reducing anxiety, depression, and pain, with low evidence of improving stress/distress and mental health-related quality of life1 2 3 4 5.

    • Mindfulness meditation significantly decreases self-reported stress and anxiety in college students, with most studies showing positive outcomes2 3.

    • Meditation reduces physiological markers of stress, such as cortisol, blood pressure, and heart rate, indicating a broad impact on stress reactivity4 7.

  • Comparison with Other Stress Reduction Techniques:

    • Meditation is comparable to other active treatments like drugs, exercise, and behavioral therapies in reducing stress, but not necessarily superior1 6.

    • Both mindfulness meditation and relaxation training significantly reduce distress and improve positive mood states, with no significant differences between the two in terms of distress reduction6.

  • Mechanisms of Stress Reduction:

    • Meditation enhances emotional resilience and cognitive flexibility, allowing better management of stressors5 7.

    • Long-term meditation practitioners show faster cortisol recovery from stress and employ more adaptive emotion regulation strategies, such as acceptance and positive reappraisal7.

  • Sustained Effects and Practicality:

    • The use of meditation apps, like Calm, has been shown to be effective in reducing stress and improving mindfulness and self-compassion among college students, with sustained effects over time3.

    • Regular meditation practice is associated with lower production of stress hormones and improved sleep patterns, contributing to overall stress management5.

Is meditation the best activity to reduce stress?

David Cregg has answered Uncertain An expert from Ohio State University in Psychology

Research has demonstrated that meditation can certainly help reduce stress (e.g., midnfulness-based stress reduction, or MBSR). However, whether it is the BEST is hard to say. There are a number of activities that can reduce stress, including exercise and planning enjoyable social activities. Meditation is just one of many healthy things one can use.

Is meditation the best activity to reduce stress?

Alessio Matiz has answered Uncertain An expert from University of Udine in Psychology, Religion, Electronics

Meditation is a term that encompasses many different practices. Moreover, in order to measure a “best” activity, a set of variables should be chosen for evaluation (e.g., time/effort/money needed to obtain a same objective). The best known meditation-based intervention today is the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program (which mainly uses mindfulness meditation), which has been shown to moderately reduce stress. Although significant effects can already be seen in the 8 weeks of these types of programs, maintaining and strengthening acquired well-being requires a constant commitment to the practice of mindfulness meditation.

Is meditation the best activity to reduce stress?

Yi-Yuan Tang has answered Uncertain An expert from Texas Tech University in Cognitive Science, Neurobiology, Mindfulness

I would say meditation is one of the effective approaches, but people vary, and some may benefit from other methods.

Is meditation the best activity to reduce stress?

Carisa Parrish has answered Uncertain An expert from Johns Hopkins University in Mindfulness, Child Development, Psychology

It is one good choice among others (e.g., behavioral activation, exercise, social connections)

Is meditation the best activity to reduce stress?

Rachael Heckenberg has answered Uncertain An expert from La Trobe University in Psychology, Mindfulness

It would be difficult to conclude that meditation is the best activity to reduce stress. There is certainly a large body of evidence to support the effectiveness of meditation-based interventions to reduce stress across different contexts (for reviews see, Bartlett et al., 2019; Chiesa & Serretti, 2009; Creswell, 2017), however there are other programs (e.g. Cognitive behavioural therapy, relaxation techniques) that have been shown to be just as effective. In addition, how stress is perceived and coped with varies from person to person so while meditation may work well for some, it may not be the best method for others.

Is meditation the best activity to reduce stress?

Richard J. Davidson has answered Uncertain An expert from University of Wisconsin in Mindfulness, Psychology

It depends. For some people, it might be, for others clearly not.