Center for Healthy Minds

In a recent study, the brain of monk and long-time meditator Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, who was 41 years old at the time, looked eight years younger than his actual age. The possibility that a person’s “brain-age” might be affected by meditation adds to a growing list of how mental training may yield lasting changes.

Focusing on how global challenges can bring out the best in our humanity

A college student’s mind is constantly in motion. There are classes, homework, a social life, work, and more. But there’s growing research showing that we can all benefit from taking a few moments each day to, well, live in the moment. Center Postdoctoral Research Associate Matt Hirshberg answers questions about how mindfulness can help college students ease their mind.

A recent paper published by researchers at the Center for Healthy Minds shows that mindfulness training for preservice teachers leads to improvements in effective classroom teacher practices.

A new study shows that the young children of parents who take part in a compassion-based training program develop lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol over time.

Youth with bipolar depression responded better to an antipsychotic medicine if they had increased markers of inflammation in their blood

Center Founder and Director Richard Davidson spoke at TEDx SanFrancisco in October 2019. Watch the video to hear him speak about the four major challenges facing society and how we can train our minds to thrive - in just 3 minutes a day.

A recent paper published by researchers at the Center for Healthy Minds showed that eight weeks of mindfulness training resulted in reductions in work-related stress, improvements in sleep quality, lower levels of burnout and reduced depression and anxiety in police officers.

A research team at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of California, Irvine, designed a video game to improve mindfulness and found that playing the game leads to changes in the brain areas underlying attention. 

In the last decade, rates of anxiety, stress, and depression have increased to unprecedented levels, especially among college students. Angela Barian writes about the Art and Science of Human Flourishing course at UW-Madison, and the additional resources available to UW-Madison students to promote well-being.