Autumn is almost here. And with it, it brings shorter days, colder weather, and the stresses of the year ending that was easy to ignore during cider-filled summer picnics.

September, thanks to our school calendars being entrenched in us, always feels like a new start, which can mean a new job, or new responsibilities, or old ones that need taking care of. Just as we refresh in the new year, we can also take this time to recharge our batteries as we battle the remaining months of 2022.

Meditation, then, might be a good place to start. And they don’t have to take a whole lot of time to do.

If you don’t have time to sit in a darkened room without distraction for half an hour, a short meditation can still be effective. In fact, there’s a wealth of research to prove it.

A study by the University of Waterloo in Canada found that just 10 minutes of daily mindful meditation helped prevent repetitive, anxious thoughts. Another study suggested that it’s the frequency rather than the length of a session that matters; researchers found that brief, daily meditation enhanced attention, memory and mood much more effectively over eight weeks of practice compared to four.

Try these micro-meditations to recharge during a busy work day