Whenever I hear about a particular technique that is supposedly backed by evidence I wonder what specific protocol was used in the studies supporting it. I also wonder how many studies have been conducted and for how many years.

For those of you who want an actual evidence-based practice check out Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). It's the most frequently studied protocol and it's been studied for decades. When you read stories about studies showing how meditation does XYZ and ABC, it's almost always MBSR that the researchers are using.

"Meditation" is a huge category, there's a lot of stuff in there. Some of it probably works, a lot of it doesn't (other than the placebo effect).

What you think of as "meditation" may not be what actually has been researched in a given study.

Of course, all of the above is only applicable to those of you who want to pursue evidence-based techniques. If you're just satisfied with trying stuff you read about on random blogs and HN posts then go ahead and try anything: prayer, astrology, witchcraft, etc - you'll probably realize a little positive benefit as long as you genuinely believe it will work.