We've all heard about meditation. And we've seen others do it. But have you ever wondered why they do it? And how? In this post, I will attempt to outline some of the numerous benefits of this silent practice to inspire you to change the way you think about the ritual, or if you've never cared about it, I will attempt to make you take a second look!
So what is attention? According to Merriam-Webster, it is "the act or power of carefully thinking about, listening to, or watching someone or something"
Attention is an important component of making humans an animal capable of higher forms of cognition. At this very moment, you are only focusing on reading this passage (or so I hope) and not even aware of other stimuli bombarding you, like the sensation of your clothes against your skin, or how your legs are positioned while reading this visual text. But I bet now I have turned your attention to the feeling of your clothes against your body or the position of your legs simply through reading! You've now become aware of all those other things, while still reading this text! How cool is that right? Absolutely cool!
So where in the brain exactly is attention processed? Well neuroscientists have associated attention to the cerebral cortex, the largest component of the human brain that covers both left and right hemispheres: (Click on image to expand)
The frontal lobe contains most of the dopamine-sensitive neurons in the cerebral cortex. The dopamine is a chemical in the brain that is associated with the reward system, attention, short-term memory tasks, planning and motivation. Basically it's what makes humans the smartest of all animals!
So now we know about the physical structure of attention on the brain. How does meditation associate with attention and what are its benefits? A study done by Eileen Ruders and colleagues at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging have found that long term meditators have larger amounts of gyrification (folds and fissures that compress cerebral cortex) compared to those who do not practice meditation. Neuroscientists believe gyrification is responsible for making better decisions, stronger at forming memories, and improving attention.
There are numerous other literature review out there that are done specifically on meditation and attention, but the key message is that there are physical changes to the brain (good changes) that directly impact human attention.
Below is an image that charts a number of researches done on the many benefits of meditation, not just attention:
To close I will include an informative chart that appeals to the student. Enjoy!
What I find particularly fascinating is that despite the brain being a pretty much like a fixed organ, with really no big variations in its appearance, it can actually still kind of grow!! The part of the video when he mentioned that mindful meditation had actually made a specific region of the brain denser was pretty interesting and really caught my attention.
ReplyDeleteI feel meditation does help with attention. I believe this video demonstrated the facts about meditation and how it can approve our attention right on the dot. Personally, I try to meditate due to stress in school and it works for me. I know people that also do meditation to lower blood pressure and it really does happen. You have to put yourself in a calm state and relax your body.
ReplyDeleteI know first hand the dangers of distraction out in the world. It is so easy one second to be studying for an exam using your laptop and the next second you're on Facebook. Attention is a golden trait that I believe we must work on often to keep our minds and memory in shape, may it be through meditation or another method. The benefits of meditation( regulation of bp. changes in mood etc.) mentioned in the video, are more of a reason to consider that route.
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