Concentration is the key to all the daily tasks that we accomplish without even realizing it. The subconscious mind of humans gets trained with time and helps us do everyday tasks. Many people suffer from concentration issues that make it hard for them to indulge in many activities. But don’t worry, there are a lot of ways to improve your concentration easily!
Everyone has seen a friend or family member suffering from concentration-related issues, and it is quite harsh for them as well. If you are looking to improve your mental function, you should keep reading and get all the details about boosting your concentration in this article.
What Affects Your Concentration?
Human concentration doesn’t only depend on mental condition but also on age. As people age, their mental capacity and memory deplete, resulting in forgetting things and directions easily. People also suffer from a lack of concentration due to sleep deprivation. Bad lighting, along with a messy workspace, is also a reason for your bad focus and low concentration.
These things are directly related to your optical indicators, and your brain relates to messing with lethargy and distraction. There are a few other things that affect your mental focus and cognitive abilities, such as stress, noise, the internet, bad time management, and sometimes bad ergonomics.
What Increases Your Cognitive Abilities?
Humans are the most complex and advanced organisms among others on this planet earth. Our complex neurological structure has neural nerves in the length of millions of miles. When you look at people with concentration issues, you won’t notice anything specific that shows their issues but is quite chronic for them. Anyway, adding some of the following activities to your lifestyle can improve your concentration gradually. Have a look:
1. Get Rid Of Your Distractions
Having distractions around you can be the biggest factor in losing your concentration. Distractions come in many forms; whether it’s your phone, a person, or thoughts, you can get distracted from your work in many ways.
You need to lose those distractions from your life to get a better cognitive function. Having a detox from your distractions is the key to improving your concentration and getting your way in life.
2. Have Clean Surroundings
A clean and tidy workspace has been recommended by successful people many times in the past. The Princeton University of Neuroscience Institute conducted a study on humans and stated that a cluttered workspace or surroundings affect one’s mental focus and concentration in a negative way.
Clean your surroundings and have an arranged placement of your books and other materials. This will work as a form of motivation and increase your focus on your work or study eventually.
3. Eat Almonds On A Daily Basis
Almonds are one of the most popular dry fruits in India, and people usually refer to them to increase mental capacity and concentration. Many deny the fact, but in reality, almonds are very beneficial in improving concentration and learning capacity. Omega-3, fatty acids, and healthy unsaturated fats are the main components of almonds, which are essential for a healthy brain.
When your brain gets tired, or your focus depletes due to excessive stress on your brain, your cholesterol levels start to rise, and it makes you lethargic and unhealthy. Keeping your cholesterol levels optimized is always important to maintain your overall health. This also decreases your concentration and cognitive capabilities. Almonds contain L-carnitine and riboflavin, which promote brain-cell growth.
4. Go For Music
You must be wondering why music can’t increase concentration; it would rather distract you from work. Many studies and research have been done on students, as well as office goers, and almost all of them showed that music increased their attention and thought processes. Start listening to calm music during your studies or work. It activates both parts of your brain and increases memory and learning capabilities.
5. Have A Regular Sleeping Pattern
Sleep is a part of life that mostly affects people and decreases their concentration. Usually, people tend to work for longer hours and avoid their sleep schedules. This leads to stress buildup in the brain, which results in less focus and concentration. Having a regular quality sleep pattern is going to give your brain the necessary rest that it needs to get recharged for another day of work. Start sleeping for at least 7 hours daily and see the results in a week.
6. Train Your Brain’s Reward System
When you eat something sweet or achieve a milestone, your brain’s reward system activates and makes you feel good. This reward system gets addicted to the task that activates it frequently, just like people get addicted to drugs.
There are ways to trick your brain into following a delayed gratitude process. You just need to do something that makes you happy after you complete your task. This will train your brain, and your concentration will eventually increase.
7. Enjoy Your Work
People usually do work out of compulsion and don’t enjoy doing the task. This results in the person losing creativity and productivity over time. Always choose the work that you like to do and enjoy doing it.
If you have the need to do a task or job that you don’t like, find motivation to improve yourself and try to get out of the situation that is locking you to that task. Conditioning your mind this way is going to improve your cognitive function and make your concentration higher over time.
Wrapping Up
Concentration leads to better learning, focus, and memory. When you suffer from low concentration, the main reasons behind it are probably one of those which are mentioned above. There can be some cases where a person suffers damage to their brain or trauma from an accident, which can lead to lower brain activity and make your concentration poorer.
Many food items increase your concentration levels. You can add food items like fish, dark chocolate, berries, coffee, and nuts to your diet. These food items are known for their high content of essential amino acids, omega-3, and other nutrients necessary to improve cognitive abilities. Always avoid stress and indulge in fun activities as well. This will keep your brain healthy and focused for a long time.
