Toranto:  Its really good to hear that 10 minutes of meditation keeps you focused. According to a research it has been found that 10 minutes of daily meditation can help prevent your mind from wandering and reduce repetitive, anxious thoughts.

Mindfulness is commonly defined as paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and without judgement, and meditating would help you achieve just that.

A researcher and doctoral student at the University of Waterloo in Canada, Mengran Xu said, “Our results indicate that mindfulness training may have protective effects on mind wandering for anxious individuals.”

Xu added, “In a study it has been found that meditation practice appears to help anxious people to shift their attention from their own internal worries to the present moment-external world, which enables better focus on a task at hand.”

The study, detailed in the journal Consciousness and Cognition, assessed the impact of meditation with 82 participants who experienced anxiety.

The participants were asked to perform a task on a computer while experiencing interruptions to gauge their ability to stay focused on the task.

“Mind wandering accounts for nearly half of any person’s daily stream of consciousness,” Xu said.

For people with anxiety, repetitive off-task thoughts can negatively affect their ability to learn, to complete tasks, or even function safely, the researchers.