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Your Ability to Focus Has Probably Peaked: Here's How to Stay Sharp
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Attention = Focusing + Ignoring
Paying attention involves two separate distinct brain functions:
- “enhancement” - our ability to focus on things that matter)
- “suppression” - our ability to ignore the things that don’t.
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Suppressing distraction gets harder with age
Our ability to filter out distractions, not our concentration, diminishes with age.
As we grow older we get more and more distracted.
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Less visual clutter to eliminate distractions
When your eyes are closed, your brain isn’t working as hard to filter out visual information. So:
- Use one screen, one browser window, and one computer program at a time.
- Keep your physical and virtual desktop tidy.
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Activities that boost focus
To increase our ability to concentrate try :
- Exercise
- Meditation
- Spending time in nature may help boost cognitive control
- Coggnitive exercises & immersive action video games
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Taking good breaks
This is important for your daily productivity. Good breaks can leave us feeling refreshed and energized. It can reduce mental fatigue, boost brain function and keep us on-task for extended periods....
The brain and goal management
The prefrontal cortex of the brain is mainly responsible for goal management. It orchestrates attention, working memory and other cognitive resources to help us get what we want.
For a challenging task, briefly taking our minds off the goal can renew and strengthen motivation. Doing activities that rely on different brain regions is best to restore focus.
Going Natural
Exposure to nature restores the mind. One study showed better working memory scores for people after a walk in a natural environment, but not in an urban setting.
If you are unable to go into nature, find plants, fresh air or a fish tank. Sit down, take a deep breath, and notice the details of nature. Research shows that even looking at some pictures of nature can work.
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Practice Slow Work
When we react to every little thing that comes up at work, we lose focus and attention.
Counter this by scheduling extra time to complete a task, engaging in single-tasking, and set...
Develop a Stress Management System
Stress is unavoidable, but we can create systems to decrease its influence over our capacity to work. These systems vary from person to person but they often include meditation, aerobic exercise (i.e. running, cycling, walking), surrounding yourself in nature, and eating healthfully.
When you know an upcoming project will generate stress, anticipate scheduling periods into your work plan to participate in the stress management activities that work for you.
Seek To Explain
Memorization doesn’t necessarily mean learning. The test for whether you understand a subject or not is the capacity you have to explain your subject or argument.
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Get your focus back
We all tend, to a different degree, to lose our focus once in a while. However, when this becomes a habit, we should contact a doctor, as it can occur due to serious underlying conditions, such as ...
Train your focus
In order to train your focus, check out the below useful tips:
- keep track of the moments when you tend to lose your attention so you can plan activities for those very moments that require less focus
- practice meditation so you can guide your mind back to the initial activity
- control the distractions around you, in order to be able to better concentrate
- work for shorter periods of time, while making sure you stay focus throughout those periods
Improve your focus
Staying focused is one of the key factors to having success in all the possible fields. Have a look at the below tips on how to improve your focus:
- use your brain in activities that lead to learning a new skill, while showing progress and encouragement
- check with your doctor as soon as you have any doubts on whether the medications you take can affect your focus
- keep track of your intake of sugar and coffee, as both can seriously decrease your power of focus
- stay social, as it brings you both more happiness and an increase in focus