Mental focus and study techniques -
Head or brain injuries, such as concussion, as well as certain mental health conditions can also affect concentration. This can lead to stress and irritation, which tends to make focusing on what you need to do even more of a distant dream.
If that sounds familiar, keep reading to learn more about research-backed methods to help improve your concentration. A study of 4, adults suggests that spending 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week, on brain training activities can improve concentration.
Brain training games can also help develop your working and short-term memory , as well as your processing and problem-solving skills. Brain training can work for kids, too. Invest in a book of word puzzles, complete a jigsaw puzzle together, or play a game of memory.
Even coloring can help improve concentration in children or adults. Older children may enjoy more detailed coloring pages, like those found in adult coloring books. The effects of brain training games may be particularly important for older adults, since memory and concentration often tend to decline with age.
Research from that looked at 2, older adults followed up on participants after 10 years. Older adults who completed 10 to 14 sessions of cognitive training saw improved cognition, memory, and processing skills.
After 10 years, most study participants reported they could complete daily activities at least as well as they could at the beginning of the trial, if not better. Try these games and puzzles to train your brain.
Brain games may not be the only type of game that can help improve concentration. Newer research also suggests playing video games could help boost concentration. A study looking at 29 people found evidence to suggest an hour of gaming could help improve visual selective attention VSA.
VSA refers to your ability to concentrate on a specific task while ignoring distractions. Study authors recommend future research to continue exploring how video games can help increase brain activity and boost concentration. A review looked at studies examining how video games could affect cognitive function.
The results suggest playing video games may lead to various changes in the brain, including increased attention and focus. This review had several limitations, including the fact that the studies focused on widely varying topics, including video game addiction and possible effects of violent video games.
Studies specifically designed to explore benefits of video games could help support these findings. When does video game use become an addiction? Sleep deprivation can easily disrupt concentration, not to mention other cognitive functions, such as memory and attention.
Occasional sleep deprivation may not cause too many problems for you. Being too tired can even slow down your reflexes and affect your ability to drive or do other daily tasks. A demanding schedule, health issues, and other factors sometimes make it difficult to get enough sleep.
What are some healthy sleep habits? Increased concentration is among the many benefits of regular exercise. Exercise benefits everyone. A study looking at fifth-graders found evidence to suggest daily physical activity could help improve both concentration and attention after just 4 weeks.
Other research looking at older adults suggests a year of moderate aerobic physical activity can help stop or even reverse memory loss that occurs with brain atrophy related to age.
Experts recommend aerobic exercise, but doing what you can is better than doing nothing at all. Depending on your personal fitness and weight goals, you may want to exercise more or less. Ask yourself:.
If you can, try getting exercise right before you really need to focus or when taking a mental break. How can exercise benefit your mental health? If you want to boost your concentration naturally, try to get outside every day, even for a short while. You might take a short walk through a park.
Sitting in your garden or backyard can also help. Any natural environment has benefits. According to the American Psychological Association APA , spending time in nature can have a positive impact on both physical and mental health. Research from found evidence to suggest including plants in office spaces helped increase concentration and productivity, as well as workplace satisfaction and air quality.
Try adding a plant or two to your workspace or home for a range of positive benefits. Children benefit from natural environments, too. Research published in followed over 1, children from birth to age 7. The study hoped to determine how lifelong exposure to trees and greenery at home or in the neighborhood might affect attention in children.
The study suggests that natural environments could benefit brain development and may improve attention in children. For children with ADHD, research suggests spending time in nature can:. What are some more natural remedies for ADHD? Meditation and mindfulness practices can offer multiple benefits.
Improved concentration is only one of these. A review of 23 studies found evidence to suggest mindfulness training that emphasizes attention focus could help increase attention and focus.
Mindfulness can also improve memory and other cognitive abilities. Yoga , deep breathing, and many other activities can help you meditate.
What are some other benefits of meditation? How can taking a break from work or homework increase your concentration? This idea might seem counterintuitive, but experts say it really works. But your struggle to focus just makes you feel stressed and anxious about not completing your work in time.
Next time this happens, when you first feel your concentration drop, take a short mental break. Refresh yourself with a cool drink or nutritious snack, take a quick walk, or go outside and get some sun. Breaks can help boost these functions and more. What are some signs of burnout? Turning on music while working or studying may help increase concentration, but this will depend on the individual.
What are some more benefits of music? The foods you eat can affect cognitive functions like concentration and memory. To boost concentration, avoid processed foods, too much sugar, and very greasy or fatty foods.
You can find more brain foods on this list. Staying hydrated can also have a positive impact on concentration. Even mild dehydration can make it harder to focus or remember information. Eating breakfast can help by boosting your focus first thing in the morning. Oatmeal, plain yogurt with fruit, or whole-grain toast with eggs are all good breakfast choices.
Which foods can help if you have depression? If you feel your concentration starting to drop, consider a cup of coffee or green tea.
A study found evidence to suggest phytochemicals naturally found in matcha, a type of green tea, not only improve cognitive function but can help promote relaxation. So matcha may be a good option if coffee makes you feel jittery or on edge.
How does caffeine affect your body? Some supplements may help promote concentration and improve brain function. However, there is not enough research to confirm that these supplements are effective or safe for everyone. Also, the Food and Drug Administration FDA does not regulate supplements.
This means you cannot be sure of the precise ingredients or how supplements will interact with other drugs. Always check with a doctor before trying any supplements, especially if you have any health conditions or allergies.
Which supplements can help you focus better? Concentration workouts often help children who have trouble focusing. This mental workout involves fully devoting attention to an activity for a set period of time. After completing one of the activities, ask your child to write a short summary or sketch how they felt during the experience.
Young children can simply use words to describe their feelings. Talking about where they lost concentration and how they managed to refocus can help them develop these skills for use in daily tasks. Multitasking has become part of daily life.
It seems a good way to get a lot done, but some scientists have questioned this. Studies have suggested that we are not as good at multitasking as we like to think we are. For one thing, the brain is not designed to cope with doing two or more things at once. What we are actually doing is switching from one task to another.
Even during quiet moments, distraction is literally at your fingertips as you find yourself checking your social media notifications or the latest news updates. But being mentally focused is essential for success.
The ability to concentrate on something in your environment and direct mental effort toward it is critical for learning new things, achieving goals , and performing well across a wide variety of situations.
Whether you are trying to finish a report at work or competing in a marathon, your ability to focus can mean the difference between success and failure. Fortunately, focus is a lot like a mental muscle. The more you work on building it up, the stronger it gets. Becoming more mentally focused is achievable, but that doesn't mean that it's always quick and easy.
If it was simple, then we would all have the razor-sharp concentration of an elite athlete. It will take some real effort on your part and you may have to make some changes to some of your daily habits.
Here are some tips and tricks from psychology that can help you learn how to focus and develop laser-like mental concentration. Hosted by therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares how to stay motivated and focused even when you don't want to.
Click below to listen now. Before you start working toward learning how to focus, you might want to begin by assessing just how strong your mental focus is at the present moment.
If the first set of statements seems more your style, then you probably already have fairly good concentration skills, but you could be even stronger with a little practice. If you identify more with the second set of statements, then you probably need to work on your mental focus quite a bit.
It might take some time, but practicing some good habits and being mindful of your distractibility can help.
While it may sound obvious, people often underestimate just how many distractions prevent them from concentrating on the task at hand. Such intrusions might come in the form of a radio blaring in the background or perhaps an obnoxious co-worker who constantly drops by your cubicle to chat.
Minimizing these sources of distraction isn't always as easy as it sounds. While it might be as simple as turning off the television or radio, you might find it much more challenging to deal with an interrupting co-worker, spouse, child, or roommate.
One way to deal with this is to set aside a specific time and place and request to be left alone for that period of time. Another alternative is to seek out a calm location where you know you will be able to work undisturbed.
The library, a private room in your house, or even a quiet coffee shop might all be good spots to try. Not all distractions come from outside sources.
Exhaustion, worry , anxiety, poor motivation, and other internal disturbances can be particularly difficult to avoid. A few strategies you might want to try to minimize or eliminate such internal distractions are to make sure you are well-rested prior to the task and to use positive thoughts and imagery to fight off anxiety and worry.
If you find your mind wandering toward distracting thoughts, consciously bring your focus back to the task at hand. While multitasking may seem like a great way to get a lot done quickly, it turns out that people are actually rather bad at it.
Juggling multiple tasks at once can dramatically cut down on productivity and makes it much harder to hone in on the details that are truly important. Think of your attention as a spotlight. If you shine that spotlight on one particular area, you can see things very clearly.
If you were to try to spread that same amount of light across a large dark room, you might instead only glimpse the shadowy outlines. Part of knowing how to focus is making the most of the resources you have available. Stop multitasking and instead give your full attention to one thing at a time.
It's tough to stay mentally focused when you are ruminating about the past, worrying about the future, or tuned out of the present moment for some other reason. You have probably heard people talk about the importance of " being present.
This notion of being present is also essential for recapturing your mental focus. Staying engaged in the here and now keeps your attention sharp and your mental resources honed in on the details that really matter at a specific point in time. It may take some time but work on learning to truly live in the moment.
You cannot change the past and the future has not happened yet, but what you do today can help you avoid repeating past mistakes and pave a path for a more successful future. Mindfulness is a hot topic right now, and for good reason. Despite the fact that people have practiced forms of mindfulness meditation for thousands of years, its many health benefits are only recently starting to be understood.
In one study, researchers had human resources professionals engage in simulations of the sort of complex multitasking they engaged in each day at work.
These tasks had to be completed in 20 minutes and included answering phones, scheduling meetings, and writing memos with sources of information pouring in from multiple sources including by phone calls, emails, and text messages. Some of the participants received 8 weeks of training in the use of mindfulness meditation , and the results found that only those who had received this training showed improvement in concentration and focus.
Members of the meditation group were able to stay on task longer, switched between tasks less frequently, and performed the work more efficiently than the other groups of participants. Practicing mindfulness can involve learning how to meditate, but it can also be as simple as trying a quick and easy deep breathing exercise.
Start by taking several deep breaths while really focusing on each and every breath. When you feel your mind naturally begin to wander, gently and uncritically guide your focus back to your deep breathing.
While this might seem like a deceptively simple task, you may find that it is actually much more difficult than it appears. Fortunately, this breathing activity is something you can do anywhere and anytime. Eventually, you will probably find that it becomes easier to disengage from intrusive thoughts and return your focus to where it belongs.
Have you ever tried to stay mentally focused on the same thing for a long period of time? After a while, your focus starts to break down and it becomes more and more difficult to devote your mental resources to the task.
Not only that, but your performance ultimately suffers as a result. Traditional explanations in psychology have suggested that this is due to attentional resources being depleted, but some researchers believe that it has more to do with the brain's tendency to ignore sources of constant stimulation.
Researchers have found that even taking very brief breaks by shifting your attention elsewhere can dramatically improve mental focus. So the next time you are working on a prolonged task, such as preparing your taxes or studying for an exam, be sure to give yourself an occasional mental break.
Shift your attention to something unrelated to the task at hand, even if it is only for a few moments. These short moments of respite might mean that you are able to keep your mental focus sharp and your performance high when you really need it.
Building your mental focus is not something that will happen overnight. Even professional athletes require plenty of time and practice in order to strengthen their concentration skills. One of the first steps is to recognize the impact that being distracted is having on your life.
If you are struggling to accomplish your goals and find yourself getting sidetracked by unimportant details, it is time to start placing a higher value on your time. By building your mental focus, you will find that you are able to accomplish more and concentrate on the things in life that truly bring you success, joy, and satisfaction.
Mental focus refers to your ability to concentrate on relevant information in your environment. This ability allows you to attend to things that require attention, complete tasks that you need to accomplish, and acquire new information.
In order to focus, the brain needs to filter out irrelevant information to concentrate on what really matters. Different types of attention can affect your ability to focus.
Kendra Stuvy, Mental focus and study techniques, is Menta, psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author Healthy vitamin sources the "Everything Psychology Book. Rachel Goldman, PhD FTOS, is flcus licensed psychologist, clinical Detox Support Supplements professor, speaker, wellness expert shudy in Detox Support Supplements behaviors, stress fcus, and Mentall behavior change. Staying on tefhniques can be difficult, but techniquex can be particularly challenging when you are surrounded by constant distractions. In today's always-connected world, diversions are nothing more than a click away, which makes it that much more difficult to figure out how to focus. Even during quiet moments, distraction is literally at your fingertips as you find yourself checking your social media notifications or the latest news updates. But being mentally focused is essential for success. The ability to concentrate on something in your environment and direct mental effort toward it is critical for learning new things, achieving goalsand performing well across a wide variety of situations.We pair Tecjniques with Detox Support Supplements Mebtal in human-centered coaching to drive powerful, tedhniques learning and focu change. Unlock performance potential focs scale with AI-powered curated growth journeys. Build Natural detox supplements, well-being foocus agility tecniques drive performance across Body density monitoring entire enterprise.
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Chronically fpcus sleep further affects your concentration and memory. Allison T. Siebern from the Stanford University Sleep Medicine Centre notes that if you cannot concentrate on what is at hand, it is unlikely to make it to either your short- or long-term memory.
Have you ever noticed how vigorous exercise leaves you feeling more relaxed and energetic throughout the day? You may feel tightness in your neck, shoulder, and chest and such persistent, low-level discomfort can affect your concentration.
What we eat contributes to how we feelincluding our mental sharpness and clarity, throughout the day. Low-fat diets can ruin focus because the brain needs certain essential fatty acids. Other restrictive diets may negatively affect concentration by not providing the nutrients the brain needs or by creating hunger, cravings, or feeling of unwellness in the body that are themselves distracting.
Depending on what you are doing, the environment can affect your focus. Obviously, a noise level that is too loud is a problem, but many people also have difficulty concentrating when it is too quiet. A favorite song quickly has you singing along, happily distracted, while less distinct instrumentals might keep you attuned to the task.
Lighting that is too bright or too dim can affect your vision. A room that is too hot or too cold creates discomfort. Depending on the cause, you may have to temporarily accept that your concentration is low and learn a few tricks to reduce the impact or accept the dips as they come.
If you need help with concentration and think your difficulties go beyond the list above, consult with a professional. Now you know why you need help with concentration.
What can help you to focus better? Eliminate distractions. How do we focus better if we are always bombarded with information? Make a practice blocking time in your schedule to do a specific task or activity.
During this time, request that you be left alone or go to a place where others are unlikely to disturb you: a library, a coffee shop, a private room. Close social media and other apps, silence notifications, and k eep your phone hidden from sight in a bag or backpack.
As described in HBR, researchers found that cognitive capacity was significantly better when the phone was out of sightnot just turned off. Keep Your primary focus is to complete what you need to do.
Shutting off both internal and external disturbances can help you to concentrate. Reduce multitasking. Attempting to perform multiple activities at the same time makes us feel productive. And lower productivity can lead to burnout. Examples of multitasking include listening to a podcast while responding to an email or talking to someone over the phone while writing your report.
Such multitasking not only hampers your ability to focus but compromises your work quality. Practice mindfulness and meditation.
Meditating or practicing mindfulness activities can strengthen well-being and mental fitness and improve focus. During the meditation process, our brain becomes calmer and our whole body becomes more relaxed.
We focus on our breath during the process so that we will not be distracted by our minds. With practice, we can learn to use our breath to bring our attention back to a particular task so that it can be done well even if we get interrupted. Get more sleep. Many factors affect your sleep.
One of the most common is reading from an electronic device like a computer, phone, or tablet or watching your favorite movie or TV show on an LED TV just before bedtime. Research has shown that such devices emit light towards the blue end of the spectrum. Such light will stimulate your eye retina and prevent the secretion of melatonin that promotes sleep anticipation in the brain.
Use a filter or "blue light" glasses to minimize such blue light or avoid all electronic devices before bed. Other ways to improve sleep include avoiding exercise late in the day, staying hydrated throughout the day, using journaling or breathing exercises to quiet the mind, and creating a predictable bedtime routine and schedule.
Choose to focus on the moment. It might feel counterintuitive when you feel unable to concentrate, but remember that you choose where you focus. It's tough to concentrate when your mind is always in the past and worrying about the future.
Acknowledge the impact, what you felt, and what you learned from it, then let it go. Similarly, acknowledge your concerns about the future, consider how you are experiencing that anxiety in your body, then choose to let it go.
We want to train our mental resources to focus on the details of what matters at the moment. Our minds go in the direction we choose to focus. Take a short break. This also might seem counterintuitive, but when you focus on something for a long time, your focus may begin to die down.
You may feel more and more difficulty devoting your attention to the task. Researchers have found that our brains tend to ignore sources of constant stimulation. Taking very small breaks by refocusing your attention elsewhere can dramatically improve mental concentration after that.
The next time you are working on a project, take a break when you begin to feel stuck. Move around, talk to someone, or even switch to a different type of task.
You will come back with a more focused mind to keep your performance high. Connect with nature. Research has found that even having plants in office spaces can help increase concentration and productivity, as well as workplace satisfaction and better air quality.
Finding time to take a walk in the park or appreciating the plants or flowers in your garden can boost your concentration and help you feel refreshed. Train your brain.
: Mental focus and study techniques| Why can’t I focus? | Participating in these artistic endeavors not only alleviates stress but also strengthens cognitive and problem-solving skills by allowing the brain to explore new perspectives and stimulating the formation of new neurons. Additionally, creative outlets foster a sense of accomplishment and can greatly improve one's self-esteem, which is crucial to maintaining motivation in other areas of life, such as academics. Recharging your brain while studying is essential to stay focused and productive, and giving yourself permission to take purposeful pauses throughout the day will help increase your attention and happiness in school and everyday life. Try implementing a few of these strategies to take control of how and when you recharge so you can prioritize the tasks ahead of you with ease and positivity. Ready to Start Your Journey? Take a look at other articles from WGU. Our articles feature information on a wide variety of subjects, written with the help of subject matter experts and researchers who are well-versed in their industries. This allows us to provide articles with interesting, relevant, and accurate information. Skip to content Skip to Live Chat. Student Success See More Tags. By Kimi Pace, Copywriter. Feed Your Brain. Stay Hydrated. Get Enough Sleep. Exercise Often. When you need an energy boost during the day, try one of the following: Put on a favorite song and dance around the house Go for a minute walk around the block Hop on your bike or stationary bike for a minute ride Do a few laps in the pool Go for a minute run Attend a restorative yoga class. Get Rid of the Stress. Improve Your Social Life. Do Something for Yourself. Step Outside Your Routine. Meditate and Relax. Do Something Creative. Bachelor's Degrees. Master's Degrees. See All Degrees. State Licensure Information. IT Certifications. Previous Next. This is a technique where you stay in focus mode for 25 minutes, and then take a short 5-minute break. After 4 of these sessions, you take a longer break of 20 minutes. By using a timer like this, you can train your brain to focus in longer stretches. Sometimes the best way to learn a concept is to teach it. If you are actively involved in studying, you will stay focused. Or go into an empty classroom and draw out formulas or theories on a whiteboard or chalkboard. This type of active learning can help you remember things more deeply. Sometimes people spend much of their downtime worrying. Let your downtime be your downtime. But if you do, take a deep breath and tell yourself that you have a schedule and a plan. And then allow yourself to enjoy your downtime. As we all know, college is expensive. Learning can be fun , but only if you are able to find ways to train your brain and your body to get the most out of school. Having good study habits is part of a healthy lifestyle for any student. Taking care of yourself with adequate sleep, healthy food, relaxed downtime, and a structured schedule will help you focus while studying and give you a better college experience overall. Good study habits will give you a strong foundation that allows you to do your best in college and beyond. Outlier winner of TIME Best Inventions and Golden Gate University 1 school for working professionals have redesigned the experience of earning a college degree to minimize cost and maximize outcomes. Explore a revolutionary way to earn your college degree:. Learn student success tips for college. Explore your potential, get study tips, and learn how to succeed in college as a first year student. Learn what time management means, tips on how to do it, and the benefits it can give you in your college journey. Skip to content. If you could change one thing about college, what would it be? Save money Graduate faster Better quality online classes Flexible schedule Access to top-rated instructors. Outlier Articles Home College Success 9 Tips on How To Stay Focused While Studying Jennifer Rivera Subject Matter Expert. Best Practices To Stay Focused While Studying Why Develop Good Study Habits? Best Practices To Stay Focused While Studying You can practice several tactics to improve your focus. Good Food Increases Productivity Fuel your body and your brain. Go to Bed and Wake Up at the Same Time Every Day Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day—yes, even on weekends—can do wonders for your productivity, especially your energy levels. Have a Study Space Find a place where you can study without disruption. Practice Good Focus To increase your focus time and decrease procrastination, try the Pomodoro technique. Study Effectively. Start Here Top 40 Study Strategies 7 Steps to Better Concentration Do you have trouble staying focused? Strategy 1: Take breaks Strategy 2: Plan your work to maximize concentration Strategy 3: Use study methods that enhance concentration Strategy 4: Understand the health-concentration connection Strategy 5: Deal with physical comfort Strategy 6: Deal with distracting thoughts Strategy 7: Refocus with the checkmark technique Resources to help with studying 7 Strategies to Manage Distractions Learning from Textbooks Reading Textbooks with SQ4R Reading Critically Taking Notes in Lectures The Cornell Method of Note Taking Highlighting vs. Notetaking Creating a Concept Map Using Your Course Outlines Ask Us: Chat, email, visit or call. Get assistance The library offers a range of helpful services. Book an appointment. Do you have trouble staying focused? Strategy 1: Take breaks If your mind begins to wander after a short time: Stop and take a 5-minute break Get up and stretch Jog on the spot to get your blood flowing Throw some cold water on your face Get a breath of fresh air, and go back to work. Work with your concentration span at the time, however short it is. Strategy 2: Plan your work to maximize concentration If you have a long stretch of time to study, alternate studying for different courses. Example: if you have three hours to study, spend one hour on each of three different subjects. Example: spend one hour reading, and the next hour doing math problems. Do your most difficult tasks during your best time of day, taking into consideration your body's natural highs and lows such as: Energy level Concentration ability Motivation Save shopping, housework or fitness activities for late in the afternoon or evening if, like many students, that's when you're normally tired. Strategy 3: Use study methods that enhance concentration Absorbing large amounts of information for long stretches of time can be difficult. Try some of these effective study strategies to help maintain your concentration: Verbalize information instead of reading silently to increase sensory input to the brain. Use the 3R's: Read, Write, Recite the material. Teach the course material to someone else; this helps you learn it too. Use mnemonics to memorize: acronyms, acrostics, analogies, key words. Use flashcards to memorize definitions, vocabulary, facts, formulae, etc. |
| How to Improve Your Concentration While You Study | If the first set of statements seems more your style, then you probably already have fairly good concentration skills, but you could be even stronger with a little practice. If you identify more with the second set of statements, then you probably need to work on your mental focus quite a bit. It might take some time, but practicing some good habits and being mindful of your distractibility can help. While it may sound obvious, people often underestimate just how many distractions prevent them from concentrating on the task at hand. Such intrusions might come in the form of a radio blaring in the background or perhaps an obnoxious co-worker who constantly drops by your cubicle to chat. Minimizing these sources of distraction isn't always as easy as it sounds. While it might be as simple as turning off the television or radio, you might find it much more challenging to deal with an interrupting co-worker, spouse, child, or roommate. One way to deal with this is to set aside a specific time and place and request to be left alone for that period of time. Another alternative is to seek out a calm location where you know you will be able to work undisturbed. The library, a private room in your house, or even a quiet coffee shop might all be good spots to try. Not all distractions come from outside sources. Exhaustion, worry , anxiety, poor motivation, and other internal disturbances can be particularly difficult to avoid. A few strategies you might want to try to minimize or eliminate such internal distractions are to make sure you are well-rested prior to the task and to use positive thoughts and imagery to fight off anxiety and worry. If you find your mind wandering toward distracting thoughts, consciously bring your focus back to the task at hand. While multitasking may seem like a great way to get a lot done quickly, it turns out that people are actually rather bad at it. Juggling multiple tasks at once can dramatically cut down on productivity and makes it much harder to hone in on the details that are truly important. Think of your attention as a spotlight. If you shine that spotlight on one particular area, you can see things very clearly. If you were to try to spread that same amount of light across a large dark room, you might instead only glimpse the shadowy outlines. Part of knowing how to focus is making the most of the resources you have available. Stop multitasking and instead give your full attention to one thing at a time. It's tough to stay mentally focused when you are ruminating about the past, worrying about the future, or tuned out of the present moment for some other reason. You have probably heard people talk about the importance of " being present. This notion of being present is also essential for recapturing your mental focus. Staying engaged in the here and now keeps your attention sharp and your mental resources honed in on the details that really matter at a specific point in time. It may take some time but work on learning to truly live in the moment. You cannot change the past and the future has not happened yet, but what you do today can help you avoid repeating past mistakes and pave a path for a more successful future. Mindfulness is a hot topic right now, and for good reason. Despite the fact that people have practiced forms of mindfulness meditation for thousands of years, its many health benefits are only recently starting to be understood. In one study, researchers had human resources professionals engage in simulations of the sort of complex multitasking they engaged in each day at work. These tasks had to be completed in 20 minutes and included answering phones, scheduling meetings, and writing memos with sources of information pouring in from multiple sources including by phone calls, emails, and text messages. Some of the participants received 8 weeks of training in the use of mindfulness meditation , and the results found that only those who had received this training showed improvement in concentration and focus. Members of the meditation group were able to stay on task longer, switched between tasks less frequently, and performed the work more efficiently than the other groups of participants. Practicing mindfulness can involve learning how to meditate, but it can also be as simple as trying a quick and easy deep breathing exercise. Start by taking several deep breaths while really focusing on each and every breath. When you feel your mind naturally begin to wander, gently and uncritically guide your focus back to your deep breathing. While this might seem like a deceptively simple task, you may find that it is actually much more difficult than it appears. Fortunately, this breathing activity is something you can do anywhere and anytime. Eventually, you will probably find that it becomes easier to disengage from intrusive thoughts and return your focus to where it belongs. Have you ever tried to stay mentally focused on the same thing for a long period of time? After a while, your focus starts to break down and it becomes more and more difficult to devote your mental resources to the task. Not only that, but your performance ultimately suffers as a result. Traditional explanations in psychology have suggested that this is due to attentional resources being depleted, but some researchers believe that it has more to do with the brain's tendency to ignore sources of constant stimulation. Researchers have found that even taking very brief breaks by shifting your attention elsewhere can dramatically improve mental focus. So the next time you are working on a prolonged task, such as preparing your taxes or studying for an exam, be sure to give yourself an occasional mental break. Shift your attention to something unrelated to the task at hand, even if it is only for a few moments. While technology can be a source of distraction, it can also be harnessed to enhance focus and productivity. Various apps and tools are specifically designed to help you with studying effectively and minimize digital distractions. By leveraging the right technology, you can create a digital ecosystem that supports your focus and facilitates efficient studying. There are numerous apps and study tools available to improve focus and reduce distractions. Productivity apps like Opal blocks distracting websites and helps you track your study time. Note-taking apps like Evernote or OneNote can help you organize your study materials and keep them easily accessible. Explore different options and experiment to find the apps and tools that work best for you. Exam season can be particularly challenging when it comes to maintaining focus. Effective exam preparation is key to reducing stress and optimizing your performance. Break down your study material into manageable sections and create a study plan that allows sufficient time for revision. Practice active recall by testing yourself through practice questions or mock exams. Seek clarification on any unclear concepts or topics. During exams, staying focused is crucial for answering questions accurately and efficiently. Before the exam, get enough sleep and eat a balanced meal to ensure optimal cognitive function. Arrive early at the exam venue to settle your mind and minimize last-minute stress. During the exam, read the instructions carefully and allocate time for each section. If you find your focus waning, take a deep breath, refocus, and continue. Test anxiety can hinder focus and impair performance. To manage test anxiety, practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or visualization before the exam. Use positive self-talk to boost your confidence and remind yourself of your preparation. Break the exam into smaller, manageable parts, focusing on one question at a time. If you feel overwhelmed, take a brief pause, close your eyes, and regain your composure before continuing. Focus is the superpower that separates average studying from exceptional learning. By understanding the science of focus and implementing these study strategies, you can crack the code to unlock your full academic potential. Remember, focus is not an innate trait but a skill that can be cultivated and honed with practice. So, embrace these strategies and embark on your journey to become a focused and successful student. Ready to unleash your focus and conquer your study sessions? Try Opal today and experience the power of effective screen time management to optimize your productivity and achieve academic success. Take control of your time and unlock your full academic potential with Opal. With a combination of app restrictions, real time feedback and rewards, you can begin to focus better and accomplish your dreams. Opal helps you block out apps, notifications, so you can truly focus or simply disconnect. Super important, because remote work means work is always just a glance away. Opal helps increase that distance. I have been using Opal and it has really made me intentional about how and when I use my phone. I'll set a 23 hour timer and literally keep my phone in one room in the house so i don't default to looking at it as a habit something I did a lot in my first 2 weeks off. Loving Opal. It's helping me not get super distracted while I'm in a deep work session! Transform your screen habits with early access to our unique program. Best Practices June 6, Dive into the science of focus, create an ideal study environment, overcome distractions, and how to focus on studying. Anton Balitskyi Lead Designer. Team Opal. Anton Balitskyi. How focused are you? Thank you! We'll be in touch! Maximize Your Focus. There is a better way to focus With a combination of app restrictions, real time feedback and rewards, you can begin to focus better and accomplish your dreams. To concentrate is to exclude, or not pay attention to, every other unrelated thought, idea, feeling, or sensation. Our daily routine is dominated by switching in and out of our mobile phones and computer. We get a constant influx of messages from WhatsApp, email, Telegram, and the half-dozen other apps that are somehow critical to our job. We constantly search for information to help solve our daily problems or get our work done. Frequent distractions affect productivity. It takes longer to finish a task. It affects memory. This is a common question for many. And often, the answer can be found in your daily activities and some areas you can control. These can include:. These are just a few examples of reasons you may not be able to concentrate. And they largely fall under five primary categories or factors. We are bombarded by a constant flow of information, whether new or old, during the process of doing something. Researchers have found that our brains are so primed for this distraction that just seeing our smartphone impairs our ability to concentrate. We constantly assess whether the information is useful, sufficient, or meaningless. The sheer quantity coming in muddles our assessment of whether we actually need more information to make decisions. Scientists have found that lack of sleep can lead to lower alertness , slower thought processes, and reduced concentration. You will have more difficulty focusing your attention and may become confused. As a result, your ability to perform tasks especially relating to reasoning or logic can be seriously affected. Chronically poor sleep further affects your concentration and memory. Allison T. Siebern from the Stanford University Sleep Medicine Centre notes that if you cannot concentrate on what is at hand, it is unlikely to make it to either your short- or long-term memory. Have you ever noticed how vigorous exercise leaves you feeling more relaxed and energetic throughout the day? You may feel tightness in your neck, shoulder, and chest and such persistent, low-level discomfort can affect your concentration. What we eat contributes to how we feel , including our mental sharpness and clarity, throughout the day. Low-fat diets can ruin focus because the brain needs certain essential fatty acids. Other restrictive diets may negatively affect concentration by not providing the nutrients the brain needs or by creating hunger, cravings, or feeling of unwellness in the body that are themselves distracting. Depending on what you are doing, the environment can affect your focus. Obviously, a noise level that is too loud is a problem, but many people also have difficulty concentrating when it is too quiet. A favorite song quickly has you singing along, happily distracted, while less distinct instrumentals might keep you attuned to the task. Lighting that is too bright or too dim can affect your vision. A room that is too hot or too cold creates discomfort. Depending on the cause, you may have to temporarily accept that your concentration is low and learn a few tricks to reduce the impact or accept the dips as they come. If you need help with concentration and think your difficulties go beyond the list above, consult with a professional. Now you know why you need help with concentration. What can help you to focus better? Eliminate distractions. How do we focus better if we are always bombarded with information? Make a practice blocking time in your schedule to do a specific task or activity. During this time, request that you be left alone or go to a place where others are unlikely to disturb you: a library, a coffee shop, a private room. Close social media and other apps, silence notifications, and k eep your phone hidden from sight in a bag or backpack. As described in HBR, researchers found that cognitive capacity was significantly better when the phone was out of sight , not just turned off. Keep Your primary focus is to complete what you need to do. Shutting off both internal and external disturbances can help you to concentrate. Reduce multitasking. Attempting to perform multiple activities at the same time makes us feel productive. And lower productivity can lead to burnout. Examples of multitasking include listening to a podcast while responding to an email or talking to someone over the phone while writing your report. Such multitasking not only hampers your ability to focus but compromises your work quality. Practice mindfulness and meditation. Meditating or practicing mindfulness activities can strengthen well-being and mental fitness and improve focus. During the meditation process, our brain becomes calmer and our whole body becomes more relaxed. We focus on our breath during the process so that we will not be distracted by our minds. With practice, we can learn to use our breath to bring our attention back to a particular task so that it can be done well even if we get interrupted. Get more sleep. Many factors affect your sleep. One of the most common is reading from an electronic device like a computer, phone, or tablet or watching your favorite movie or TV show on an LED TV just before bedtime. Research has shown that such devices emit light towards the blue end of the spectrum. Such light will stimulate your eye retina and prevent the secretion of melatonin that promotes sleep anticipation in the brain. Use a filter or "blue light" glasses to minimize such blue light or avoid all electronic devices before bed. Other ways to improve sleep include avoiding exercise late in the day, staying hydrated throughout the day, using journaling or breathing exercises to quiet the mind, and creating a predictable bedtime routine and schedule. Choose to focus on the moment. It might feel counterintuitive when you feel unable to concentrate, but remember that you choose where you focus. It's tough to concentrate when your mind is always in the past and worrying about the future. Acknowledge the impact, what you felt, and what you learned from it, then let it go. Similarly, acknowledge your concerns about the future, consider how you are experiencing that anxiety in your body, then choose to let it go. We want to train our mental resources to focus on the details of what matters at the moment. Our minds go in the direction we choose to focus. Take a short break. This also might seem counterintuitive, but when you focus on something for a long time, your focus may begin to die down. |
| 7 tips for staying organised and focused while studying | Do you want to make your studying more efficient, learn more quickly, and remember more information? Practice Good Focus To increase your focus time and decrease procrastination, try the Pomodoro technique. Foods that will help you concentrate on your studies include fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, ginseng tea, and drinking lots of water. You can either take a walk and do some stretching exercise, then reset the timer and start again. Be sure to turn your TV off, and find instrumental music that helps you study. |
| Study Better with a Little Focus and Planning | Being adequately hydrated throughout the day reduces fatigue by aiding circulation in the body, which is especially beneficial for brain function. Talking about where they lost concentration and how they managed to refocus can help them develop these skills for use in daily tasks. While technology can be a source of distraction, it can also be harnessed to enhance focus and productivity. Use rewards to reinforce positive study habits. For instance, try changing your location or studying for shorter periods with more frequent breaks to keep yourself more motivated and alert. The more you work on building it up, the stronger it gets. |
| 7 tips for focus and organisation while studying - Blog | Host | Our constant use studt social amd and personal devices sttudy cell Amino acid profile divides our Detox Support Supplements and makes it more difficult to concentrate. These are Detox Support Supplements likely to put you to sleep and make it hard to concentrate on your studies. Set a reminder on your phone to drink a large glass of water every couple of hours and snack on healthy fruit and nuts during your studies. Recent Blogs. Sit upright in a chair at a desk. |
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