What Happens in Your Brain When You Meditate?

In everyday life, we are often distracted by our thoughts and feelings. We can even fail to notice that we are distracted and spend a lot of time daydreaming when we want to be focusing on something else. Sometimes, even if we notice that we are distracted, it can be hard to turn our attention back to whatever we were doing. Distraction and difficulty controlling attention can cause various problems. For example, some students find it difficult to learn because of frequent distractions and not paying attention in class. For other people, repeatedly thinking about bad memories or worries can affect their moods. Luckily, research suggests that we can learn to control our attention and manage distractions by practicing meditation. In this article, we introduce a simple method of meditation and describe what is going on in the brain when we meditate.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Frontiers for Young Minds
Published
2024-08-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1274934
Primary Topic
Mind wandering and attention
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

What Happens in Your Brain When You Meditate?

Nicholas T. Van Dam, Andrew Zalesky, Bradford A. Moffat, Valentina Lorenzetti et al.
Frontiers for Young Minds
Mind wandering and attention
article

What Happens in Your Brain When You Meditate?

Nicholas T. Van Dam, Andrew Zalesky, Bradford A. Moffat, Valentina Lorenzetti, Saampras Ganesan
article en

Abstract

In everyday life, we are often distracted by our thoughts and feelings. We can even fail to notice that we are distracted and spend a lot of time daydreaming when we want to be focusing on something else. Sometimes, even if we notice that we are distracted, it can be hard to turn our attention back to whatever we were doing. Distraction and difficulty controlling attention can cause various problems. For example, some students find it difficult to learn because of frequent distractions and not paying attention in class. For other people, repeatedly thinking about bad memories or worries can affect their moods. Luckily, research suggests that we can learn to control our attention and manage distractions by practicing meditation. In this article, we introduce a simple method of meditation and describe what is going on in the brain when we meditate.

Frontiers for Young MindsVol. 12
The University of Melbourne (AU), St. Albans School (US), Australian Catholic University (AU)
Openalex Percentile: Top 88%
Mind wandering and attention
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.