How is your attention span these days? Environmental distractions and rising use of technology can heavily affect our ability to hold focus, as can lack of rest, general stress, and anxiety.
Since longer attention spans are linked to better overall well-being, finding ways to sharpen our focus is increasingly important in today’s tech-heavy world.
Researchers from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology were especially interested in whether mindfulness could enhance attention spans in older adults, but they discovered something even better: Just 30 days of guided meditation significantly improved people’s ability to direct their attention, no matter how old the participants were.
Their findings, published in eNeuro, show how a simple, low-cost practice like meditation can have a notable impact on cognition.
Attention and Meditation in the Brain
Our lives are already packed with distractions, but as we age, tuning out interruptions becomes even more challenging, making it harder to sustain attention. One area in the brain involved in focus is the locus coeruleus–noradrenaline (LC-NA) system, which undergoes changes with age and has been linked in past research to early Alzheimer’s disease.
Mindfulness meditation is gaining traction in psychological research for its brain benefits, from altering the size of certain regions to boosting neural connectivity. While scientists have suggested that meditation influences the LC-NA system, using techniques like eye-tracking to test its effects and how those vary by age is a relatively new approach.
Read More: The Science of a Wandering Mind
Using Eye-Tracking to Determine Attention
To investigate, the researchers divided the participants into three age groups (18 to 30, 50 to 65, and 65 to 80) and randomly assigned them to either practice 10 to 15 minutes of daily guided meditation using an app or listen to an audiobook for the same amount of time.
Both groups completed two visual search tasks involving eye-tracking, which measured how quickly and accurately they could focus on target shapes while ignoring distractions.
Those who meditated showed clear improvements in key aspects of attention. Their reaction times were faster, meaning they could direct their gaze toward target shapes more quickly, suggesting enhanced visual processing.
They also demonstrated a sharper focus on goals, making more direct eye movements toward relevant items and resisting distractions that might pull their eyes away. Additionally, in some tasks, they were less likely to get sidetracked by visually striking but irrelevant objects.
Stress-Relief and Attention Benefits
Against their expectations, these attention benefits were observed across all age groups.
“This suggests mindfulness can be a useful tool at any stage of life,” said Andy Jeesu Kim, postdoctoral researcher at USC Leonard Davis School, in a press release.
Kim added, “We’re excited about the potential of digital mindfulness interventions to help people support their brain health. It’s simple, low-cost, and widely accessible. The key is consistency.”
Despite these measurable improvements, participants didn’t report feeling more mindful on questionnaires, highlighting the value of objective measures like eye-tracking to capture real cognitive changes.
While mindfulness is often praised for its stress-relief benefits, this study shows it can enhance brain functions like attention, too. The researchers note that these promising short-term effects raise an important question: Could longer or more intensive meditation training produce even greater cognitive benefits, especially for older adults experiencing age-related decline?
“This study shows that mindfulness isn’t just about feeling more relaxed — it can literally change the way your brain handles attention,” Kim concluded. “And that’s incredibly important for maintaining cognitive health as we age.”
Read More: Meditation Changes Your Brain Structure in a Good Way
Article Sources
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Having worked as a biomedical research assistant in labs across three countries, Jenny excels at translating complex scientific concepts – ranging from medical breakthroughs and pharmacological discoveries to the latest in nutrition – into engaging, accessible content. Her interests extend to topics such as human evolution, psychology, and quirky animal stories. When she’s not immersed in a popular science book, you’ll find her catching waves or cruising around Vancouver Island on her longboard.
