Growing Interest in Meditation in the United States
Adam Burke, Autumn Gonzalez
Biofeedback 2011 DOI: 10.5298/1081-5937-39.2.09 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key findings | Meditation use among U.S. adults increased significantly from 7.6% in 2002 to 9.4% in 2007, according to the National Health Interview Survey. |
Abstract
Meditation is a self-regulatory, mind-body process used to help engage attention and awareness, and to produce a state of inner quiescence. It has been used as a self-transformative practice for millennia, most notably in the Far East. Interest in meditation was evident in the United States in the late 19th century, and began to flourish during the early 1960s as Transcendental Meditation, Zen, and other traditions grew significantly in popularity. Over the ensuing decades a large body of scientific literature has also emerged. One factor contributing to this growth in publications is an increasingly sophisticated ability to measure brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and advance EEG and MEG technologies. National surveys, including the National Health Interview Survey's (NHIS), also show clear evidence of growing consumer interest in meditation. The NHIS shows use of meditation to be in the top ten most commonly used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies. The most recent 2007 NHIS compared findings of meditation use with reported use in the 2002 survey. A statistically significant increase in mediation practice among adults in the previous 12 months was noted, up from 7.6% in 2002 to 9.4% in 2007.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical populations | 2003 | Review | |
| Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects | 2007 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Interventions | 2016 | Review | |
| Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation | 2017 | Review | |
| Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition | 2005 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- Optimizing the immeasurable: a critical examination of neuro-meditation commodification Ai & Society October 28, 2025
- Mind-Altering Digital Technologies: A Scoping Review International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction July 10, 2026
- A treatment in search of a disease? Challenges in mindfulness research and practice. Explore May 26, 2021
- Prevalence and patterns of use of mantra, mindfulness and spiritual meditation among adults in the United States. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine June 15, 2017
Cites 5
- What Do We Really Know About Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction? Psychosomatic Medicine 2002
- Mindfulness Meditation for Substance Use Disorders: A Systematic Review Substance Abuse October 1, 2009
- Impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training on intrinsic brain connectivity. Neuroimage February 18, 2011
- Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density Psychiatry Research November 10, 2010
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits. A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research July 1, 2004