For years, meditation has been associated with all kinds of benefits, such as increased happiness, more self-control and better social skills. But so far, it’s been hard to quantify exactly how those benefits are linked with the act of sitting still and focusing your thoughts. New research, published in Biological Psychiatry, took a look at the physical benefits of meditation in a double-blind study with 35 adults who reported that they were experiencing high levels of stress. The researchers found that adults who attended a three-day meditation retreat showed slightly different patterns of connectivity in their brains afterward, particularly in the regions associated with executive control. They also experienced slight decreases in the amount of a chemical associated with stress. These results contrasted with patients selected to go to a rote relaxation workshop, who afterwards showed a slight increase in the same stress-related chemical and no changes in their brain activity.