Friday, July 17, 2026

Watching This Particular TV Show Is As Good As Meditating

A new study has found something pretty incredible. Mediation and mindfulness aren’t much better than watching a David Attenborough documentary. If you aren’t a fan of Planet Earth, Attenborough is known for narrating stunning nature documentaries and is a pretty big deal in Britain.

According to The Times (by way of The Independent), researchers at Coventry University, along with scientists from New Zealand and the Netherlands, found no convincing evidence that mindfulness and meditation promote open-mindedness or empathy any more than jogging and watching TV.

The study concluded that methods such as mindfulness show no measurable effect beyond what their teacher tells someone to expect, comparing the technique to religion and warning against “implicit magical beliefs” in meditation.

So there you have it. Your next meditation is just a Netflix sesh away:

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