I have to meditate at least 20 minutes at a time but I prefer 45 minutes. What are the benefits of short meditations?

Personally, I feel that a 60 minute meditation will give you long-term plus larger benefits than these short duration mediation sessions. If time is a constraint for you go with 20 minute meditation. Ideally one should meditate minutes equal to their age. If you can afford ten days of your time, join a free ten day course at your nearest location possible and learn the best mediation technique in the world ever – Vipassana.

When you asked about the benefits I gave you something different answer. Coming to the benefits no two persons will have the same benefits in meditation. Just like everyone is unique the benefits are also unique. You should yourself experience the benefits. Everything is clearly taught in those ten day course for you.
Happy breathing.

Short meditations provide an opportunity to connect with your breath, even when you are short on time. Oftentimes strong emotional energy can come to us suddenly, if we have practiced short meditations, we will have the ability to take a few moments to breath and react calmly- instead of needing a full meditation session.

Consistency is better than perfect. Also after years of meditation I can get into the zone in a very short time compared to when I first started, so the benefit happens in a short time.

Your brain is a muscle. Meditation stretches, flexes and challenges it. Similar to physical exercise, it is best done in manageable and limited doses at first until you build the strength and resilience to do longer durations. Once you find you’ve mastered 10 minutes at a time, move to 20 and stay there a while. You don’t need to rush the progress. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. You need to be more present – and that’s the hardest part.

I think that the amount of meditation doesn’t really matter as long as you completely understand everything your feeling.

Short meditations are great because they fit easily in your schedule. If I’m having a busy day I’ll manage to have a meditative moment in the afternoon/evening which will help me get through the rest of the day with the same energy and focus.
If you train reaching your meditative state in a shorter time, it will be easier and easier to schedule more meditations throughout the day if you need to.

Hi there. I only do short meditation because I’m new to meditation and it’s been easier for me to do it shorter. I’ve been increasing the time. I’ve started with 5 minutes and I’m doing 12 minutes now

For me, short meditations are great for switching up the focus or subject of the meditation. So I may do a 10 minute one focused on gratitude, and then one focused on loving kindness. It helps me stay focused on each one, and then I can tailor it to what I need.