Imagine you are reading a book, listening to a friend tell a story, or even trying to listen to important information. All of a sudden you notice that the sky is strangely blue today or think about what you want to cook for dinner. Before you know it, you notice that you haven’t been listening and don’t remember what you just read or heard. Most people have been in a situation like this where attention seems to wander to something completely different than what you were just focusing on. Maybe you do this all the time. If so, you are not alone.
How can you help improve your attention? One solution is mindfulness meditation. Essentially, mindfulness is the practice of focusing on something (such as breathing), noticing where your attention goes, and then guiding attention back to the original focus. For many, mindfulness meditation might sound time-consuming or like a big
commitment. Fortunately, a recent study looking at students ages 17 to 22 suggests a brief guided meditation can have benefits for attention.
The research suggests inexperience meditators who participated in a 10-minute guided meditation showed a better ability to direct their attention when performing a task designed to test attention (Flanker Test) compared to those who did not. It is worth noting that people who naturally overreact to stressful situations or normally stress themselves out may not reap the benefits with just a single session. The researchers suggest that long-term meditation might be needed for acquiring attentional benefits in these cases. But for those who are not normally stressed in this way, a brief guided meditation may help improve your attention and help keep your focus on your friends’ story!
Written by William Gardner