Meditate to Increase Attention Span

Posted by Heather J.

According to a study published in the online edition of the PloS Biology journal, three months of rigorous meditation training leads to a profound shift in how the brain allocates attention. The study suggests that the ability to release thoughts that pop into mind frees the brain to attend to more rapidly changing things and events in the world at large, according to the study's lead author, Richard Davidson. Experienced meditators, he said, tend to better detect fast-changing stimuli such as emotional facial expressions. Meditation also reportedly increases gray matter in the brain, improve the immune system, reduce stress, and promote a sense of well-being. The PloS study is the first to address how meditation affects attention, and it showed that it is a flexible, trainable skill. Although participants in the study meditated for up to 12 hours a day, you can experience the benefits of meditation with as little as 20 minutes a day. "I'm sorry, did you say something"