Exercising the Mind

New research suggests daily meditation can boost attention spans.

New research suggests daily meditation can boost attention spans. Scientists at the University of California had a group of 30 people go on a three-month meditation retreat, while a second group of 30 waited their turn (and were used as a reference with which to compare results from the first meditation group). The second group went on the retreat three months after the end of the first retreat. 

At three points during the retreat, participants took a 30-minute computer test in which they watched the screen as lines flashed on it. Most lines were the same length, but every now and then, a shorter one would appear and the volunteer had to respond by clicking the computer mouse. As meditation training progressed, participants got better at discerning the short lines, which in turn made it easier to sustain attention. The result meant improved performance over a long period of time. The improvement lasted five months after the retreat, particularly for those who continued to meditate daily.