Learn Hardcore Russian: Даже пять минут медитации уменьшают уровень стресса. - Even five minutes of meditation reduce the level of stress.

In Даже пять минут медитации уменьшают уровень стресса, it emphasizes that a very small amount (just five minutes) is already enough to have an effect. In English you might say:

Even five minutes of meditation reduce stress levels.
or
Just five minutes of meditation can reduce stress levels.

Position:

The most natural place is before what you are emphasizing: Даже пять минут медитации…
You can sometimes move it, but here shifting даже elsewhere (e.g. Пять минут даже медитации…) would sound unnatural or change the focus.

Why is it пять минут, not пять минуты or пять минута?

Russian numbers affect the form (case and number) of the noun that follows:

1 → nominative singular: одна минута
2, 3, 4 → genitive singular: две / три / четыре минуты
5 and above → genitive plural: пять минут, шесть минут, десять минут, etc.

Because пять (5) is 5 or more, минута must go into genitive plural → минут.

So:

5 minutes = пять минут (correct)
пять минуты / пять минута are simply ungrammatical.

Why is медитации in this form? What case is it?

Медитации here is genitive singular of медитация.

The phrase пять минут медитации literally means “five minutes of meditation”. In Russian, this “of” is usually expressed by the genitive, without a preposition:

чашка чая = a cup of tea
стакан воды = a glass of water
час работы = an hour of work
пять минут медитации = five minutes of meditation

We’re talking about an amount of time of one activity (meditation), not five separate meditations, so Russian uses genitive singular: медитации, not медитаций.

Why is the verb plural уменьшают and not singular уменьшает?

The grammatical subject is the whole phrase пять минут медитации. The “real doers” of the action are the minutes (a plural noun), and in this kind of sentence Russian often matches the verb with the logical plurality:

Три студента пришли. – Three students came. (verb plural)
Пять минут медитации уменьшают уровень стресса. – Five minutes of meditation reduce stress levels.

Using уменьшают (plural) is the natural choice here because the minutes are conceptualized as multiple “units” that produce the effect.

Technically, in some very formal, bookish styles, you can see singular agreement with number phrases in some contexts, but in this sentence уменьшают is the normal, idiomatic form. Уменьшает would sound off to most native speakers here.

Why not use уменьшит / уменьшат instead of уменьшают?

Уменьшают is present tense, imperfective, 3rd person plural of уменьшать.

уменьшать (imperfective) = to reduce (in general, repeatedly, as a rule)
уменьшить (perfective) = to reduce (once, to a result)

In this sentence we are stating a general truth / regular effect:

Даже пять минут медитации уменьшают уровень стресса.
→ Even five minutes of meditation reduce stress levels (as a general fact).

If we used perfective:

уменьшит = will reduce (3rd person singular, future)
уменьшат = will reduce (3rd person plural, future)

That would sound like talking about a single future event:

Пять минут медитации уменьшат уровень стресса.
→ Five minutes of meditation will reduce your stress level (this time).

That’s possible in a different context, but for a general statement about what meditation does, Russian uses the imperfective present: уменьшают.

Why is it уровень стресса, not уровень стресс?

Уровень стресса literally means “level of stress”.

In Russian, уровень (level) is usually followed by a noun in the genitive to show “of what”:

уровень воды – level of water
уровень шума – noise level
уровень сахара – sugar level
уровень стресса – stress level

So стресса is genitive singular of стресс.

Уровень стресс is incorrect; you must use the genitive to express “level of X”.

Can we say уменьшают стресс instead of уменьшают уровень стресса? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Даже пять минут медитации уменьшают стресс.

This is fully grammatical and natural. The difference is nuance:

уменьшают стресс – directly reduce stress (more general, shorter)
уменьшают уровень стресса – reduce the level of stress (slightly more formal or “scientific”/measured sounding, as if you could measure the level)

In everyday speech, уменьшают стресс is very common and maybe more typical. In texts about psychology, health, or science, you’ll often see уровень стресса.

Can I change the word order? For example, where else can даже or медитации go?

Russian word order is flexible, but not all options sound equally natural.

The standard, neutral order here is:

Даже пять минут медитации уменьшают уровень стресса.

Some acceptable variants (with slightly different emphasis):

Пять минут медитации даже уменьшают уровень стресса.
– The “even” is now emphasizing the fact of reducing stress, not the amount of time. Sounds less natural but possible in context.

Generally даже comes right before what it emphasizes. In this sentence we want to emphasize how little time is needed, so we say:

Даже пять минут медитации… (Even five minutes of meditation…)

Forms like:

Пять минут даже медитации уменьшают…
or
Пять минут медитации уменьшают даже уровень стресса.

are either unnatural or change the meaning a lot, and would normally not be used in this context.

How do you pronounce this sentence? Where are the stresses?

With stress marks:

Да́же пять мину́т медита́ции уменьша́ют у́ровень стре́сса.

Syllable-by-syllable (stressed syllables in caps):

ДА-же
пять (one syllable, stressed)
ми-НУТ
ме-ди-ТА-ци-и (the ТА is stressed)
у-менЬ-ША-ют (stress on ША)
У-ро-вень (stress on У)
СТРЕ-сса (stress on СТРЕ)

Approximate IPA:

[ˈdaʐɨ pʲatʲ mʲɪˈnut mʲɪdʲɪˈtat͡sɨɪ̯ ʊmʲɪnʲˈʂajʊt ˈurəvʲɪnʲ ˈstresə]

The main sentence stress in meaning is on пять мину́т (because even five minutes is the key idea) and on уменьша́ют (the action).

Why is it пять минут in the nominative, not пяти минут?

In this sentence пять минут медитации is the subject of the verb уменьшают, so it stands in the nominative case:

Кто / что уменьшают? – Пять минут медитации.

Therefore you use пять минут (nominative construction with numeral) as the subject.

You will see пяти минут (genitive) in other roles, e.g.:

у меня нет пяти минут – I don’t have five minutes (object of нет, which requires genitive)
без пяти минут пять – five minutes to five (after без you also use genitive)

So:

Subject: пять минут медитации уменьшают… (nominative)
Genitive context: нет пяти минут, не хватает пяти минут, через пять минут (here the numeral phrase is the object of the preposition через, so the structure is different).

Why is it уменьшают уровень стресса and not something with a preposition, like уменьшают уровень стресса от?

The verb уменьшать is transitive – it takes a direct object in the accusative without a preposition:

уменьшать шум – to reduce noise
уменьшать расход воды – to reduce water consumption
уменьшать стресс / уровень стресса – to reduce stress / the level of stress

In уменьшают уровень стресса:

уровень is accusative singular (direct object of уменьшают)
стресса is genitive singular (of what? level of stress)

You would not add a preposition like от here; от стресса would mean “from stress” or “because of stress”, which is a different idea (for example: головная боль от стресса – headache from stress). Here we simply say what is being reduced, so no preposition is used.