Meditating makes your brain quicker, say scientists

Researchers at Binghamton University, New York, used brain scans to see how practicing meditation for 10 minutes a day changed the cognitive behaviour of 10 students.

Comparing scans from before and after the eight-week trial revealed that meditation led to faster switching between the brain’s two general states of consciousness: the ‘default mode network’, which is active when the brain is awake but not focused, such as during daydreaming; and the ‘dorsal attention network’, when the brain engages for attention-demanding tasks. The results of the study, published in the journal Nature, demonstrated that after the meditation course, participants had better brain connections between — and within — the two networks.

“The findings indicate the potential effects of meditation on enhancing the brain capability of fast switching between mind wandering and focused attention and maintaining attention once in attentive states,” the study concluded.