Do you need regular cups of coffee to keep you focused and sharp throughout the day? A new study suggests that some brief meditation would work just as well.

Meditation has previously required extensive training to achieve significant changes to the brain where concentration is concerned, however, new research into cognitive performance has found that the mind may be easier to train than first thought.

Psychologists studying the effects of a meditation technique known as “mindfulness” found significant improvement to critical cognitive skills after only four days of training for 20 minute sessions per day.

“In the behavioural test results, what we are seeing is something that is somewhat comparable to results that have been documented after far more extensive training,” said Fadel Zeidan, a post-doctoral researcher at Wake Forest University School of Medicine where the research was conducted.

“Simply stated, the profound improvements that we found after just 4 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.”

The study involved 63 participants of whom 49 completed the experiment. Participants where assigned to one of two groups – one that received meditation training and one that listened to a book being read aloud (Tolkein’s ‘The Hobbit).

Before and after the sessions, participants took part in behavioural tests for mood, memory, visual attention, attention processing and vigilance.

Results from the tests before the experiment where equal for both groups but following the meditation and reading sessions, only the group that received meditation training improved in the cognitive tests scoring consistently higher averages and even ten times better in the focus challenge test.

“Findings like these suggest that meditation’s benefits may not require extensive training to be realised, and that meditation’s first benefits may be associated with increasing the ability to sustain attention,” Zeidan said.

“This kind of training seems to prepare the mind for activity, but it’s not necessarily permanent. This doesn’t mean that you meditate for four days and you’re done – you need to keep practising.”

Find a local practitioner