Meditation has long been reported as a great way to clear the mind and reduce stress. In my post in February, 5 Strategies to Improve Memory, I pointed to a research study that found that the daily practice of meditation thickened the parts of the brain’s cerebral cortex responsible for decision making, attention and memory. However, because most of the research done so far has been focused on people that meditate every day, many people may have been deterred from the practice on the premise that it is too time consuming.
A new research study from psychologist Fadel Zeidan titled refutes this notion. Zeidan’s study indicates that even twenty minutes a day of meditation, four days a week, can generate a notable increase in your vital cognitive skills.
When discussing the study Zeidan commented, “Simply stated, the profound improvements that we found after just four days of meditation training are really surprising. It goes to show that the mind is, in fact, easily changeable and highly influenced, especially by meditation.”
One thing to note is that the 63 participants in Zeidan’s study were given almost an hour and a half of professional training. They were taught a basic form of meditation which entailed focusing their mind on the patterns of their breath. If their thoughts strayed, they were told to make note of the intruding thought, and then return to concentrating on their breathing pattern. Astonishingly, those who received the training were found to be as much as ten times better in their ability to remain focused on a subject while retaining other information.
If you are interested in meditation, two important takeaways are:
- Do your research. There are many forms of meditation. Keep looking until you find a form that you feel comfortable with. Classes on meditation are now offered at most wellness centers. There are also self directed programs available.
- When you find a form you like, stick with it. Like most other activities that have an effect on our health, the positive effects of “mindfulness” meditation begin to wane when you fall out of practice. The good news is that it appears that the frequency of practice necessary to see the benefits is significantly less than we had originally assumed.