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. If you have the chance to tackle one thing at a time, you might find you can concentrate better on each of them. Blocking off time for specific tasks can help you focus on one thing at a time and lower the risk of environmental distractions.

Setting time limits can also help you channel your energy toward the task in hand because you know the time you can or need to spend on it is limited. Researchers looking for ways to help people overcome these challenges have suggested the following tips :. The Marinara Timer, for example, encourages a person to work for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break.

After four blocks of 25 minutes, the person will take a minute break. This way, you can focus fully on a task for the allotted time and do something else in the breaks. These allow you to set a goal to not use your phone. If you use the phone too soon, the tree will die. Other apps allow you to set goals for specific sites each day, such as the news or social media.

Trouble concentrating can relate to things going on around you. Common causes include interruptions from co-workers, distractions from your roommates or family members, or social media notifications.

Some common ones include:. What is stopping me from focusing? Sometimes it takes a trained professional to notice these symptoms. Many adults living with untreated ADHD have trouble concentrating or focusing their attention for long periods of time. A mental health professional can help diagnose this or any other condition and help you get started on treatment.

Therapy, medication, and other treatment approaches can help improve your symptoms once you have a diagnosis.

Some people use prescription or recreational drugs, such as nootropics, to improve their focus, but some of these can have severe adverse effects. Some ways to improve concentration may work well, while others may not seem to do much for you.

Consider giving a range of approaches a try to see what helps. Experts still debate the benefits of certain methods, such as brain training. But existing evidence suggests most of these tips can promote at least modest improvements in concentration for many people.

Just make sure to talk to your doctor if focusing is very hard. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

VIEW ALL HISTORY. 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. Selective attention , for example, acts like a spotlight to highlight specific stimuli in your environment.

Sustained attention, on the other hand, allows you to stay mentally focused on something for an extended period of time. Levy D, Wobbrock J, Kaszniak A, Ostergren M. The effects of mindfulness meditation training on multitasking in a high-stress information environment.

Proceedings - Graphics Interface. Brief and rare mental breaks keep you focused: Deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements.

doi: By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book.

Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising.

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.

Selective attention , for example, acts like a spotlight to highlight specific stimuli in your environment.

Sustained attention, on the other hand, allows you to stay mentally focused on something for an extended period of time. Levy D, Wobbrock J, Kaszniak A, Ostergren M. The effects of mindfulness meditation training on multitasking in a high-stress information environment.

Proceedings - Graphics Interface. Brief and rare mental breaks keep you focused: Deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements. doi: By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book.

Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content.

Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources.

Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content. List of Partners vendors. Beating the Summer Scaries Guide Beating the Summer Scaries Guide. End-of-Summer Blues Synchronizing Your Body Back to School Stress Mental Focus Morning Routine Reviving Habits.

By Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book. Kendra Cherry, MSEd. Learn about our editorial process. Learn more. Medical Reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research.

Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates. Medically reviewed by Rachel Goldman, PhD, FTOS. Learn about our Medical Review Board. Trending Videos. Press Play for Advice On Staying Motivated 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.

Evaluate How Mentally Focused You Are. Your Focus Is Good If You find it easy to stay alert You set goals and break tasks up into smaller parts You take short breaks, then get back to work. Your Focus Needs Work If You daydream regularly You can't tune out distractions You lose track of your progress.

The Brain Processes Behind Attention and Distraction. Eliminate Distractions. Limit Your Focus. Attentional resources are limited so it is important to budget them wisely. Single-Tasking for Productivity and Stress Management.

Live in the Moment. How to Forget a Bad Memory. Practice Mindfulness. Quick Tip to Regain Focus Start by taking several deep breaths while really focusing on each and every breath.

Take a Short Break. Keep Practicing. Frequently Asked Questions What does mental focus mean? How do you stay mentally focused?

Here are some examples:. A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience indicates that meditators may be better equipped than non-meditators to pay attention and concentrate. The study, by Italian neuroscientist Giuseppe Pagnoni, found that meditation changes brain patterns, and confers advantages in mental focus.

Pagnoni, who has studied how meditation affects the brain for many years, recruited 12 Zen meditators for the study. He compared the 12 meditators to a control group of 12 people who had never meditated. The study showed that the meditators had more stability in their ventral posteromedial cortex vPMC than the non-meditators.

The vPMC is a region of the brain linked to spontaneous thoughts and mind-wandering. In order to improve your focus, start saying your OMs.

However, what happens if you do accept these requests and invitations? Clearly, the best strategy to follow here is to decline the invitations so that you can continue focusing on finishing your video course.

Monkey mind are those thoughts that swing from limb to limb in your head. They come from within. You may be working on an important project, when the voice in your head interrupts you with thoughts like the following:.

Does that sound familiar? A lot of people equate taking breaks with wasting time. However, studies show that taking breaks improves our focus. After a while of focusing on a task, our cognitive control system starts to fail. By switching our attention to something else momentarily—that is, by taking a break—we can then return to our original task and focus on it once again.

So, for how long should you work before you take a break? Experiment with different work-break ratios until you find the one that works best for you. As I explained in my post, 7 Benefits of Doodling and How to Get Started , doodling helps you to concentrate. This is because doodling requires enough cognitive effort to keep you from daydreaming, and yet not enough to prevent you from paying attention to what is going on around you.

The minimal attention required for doodling appears to boost focus and memory. He explains that deep work is something that should be cultivated. Deep work involves cognitively demanding tasks which require focused, intense concentration for long periods of time. Here are some characteristics of deep work:.

The opposite of deep work is shallow work. Logistical work includes things such as answering emails, attending meetings, and updating your social profiles. Writing this eBook is deep work.

Devote the days from December 26th to December 31st to finishing the eBook. Live your best life by improving your focus. Did you enjoy this article? Next post: 30 Ways to Get Out of the Waiting Place. Previous post: 10 Sunday Habits — Set Yourself Up For a Great Week.

Marelisa Fabrega is a lawyer and entrepreneur. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University in Washington, D. You can learn more about her here. This site rocks the Classic Responsive Skin for Thesis. Get lots more done by improving your ability to focus.

Improve Your Focus by Doing One Thing At a Time Dandapani is a Hindu priest, entrepreneur, speaker and former monk who teaches spiritual tools which help people lead a rewarding life. At the start of his talk Dandapani explains that most people today have trouble concentrating for two reasons: First, although as children we were told to concentrate, we were never taught how to concentrate.

Grab your pen and an index card and write down the following: Blog Post — 25 Minutes Then, set a timer for 25 minutes and get to work on your blog post. Identify Potential Distractions Ahead of Time Before you sit down to work on an important project, or get started with one of your study sessions, think of all the things that could distract you.

Here are some examples: Are you worried you may be distracted by your cell phone? Turn it off and put it in another room. Are you worried other people may distract you? Are you worried you might find yourself checking social media sites or randomly surfing the internet?

Block distracting web sites on your computer using extensions like FocalFilter. Are you easily distracted by visual and auditory stimuli?

You could also consider getting some noise-cancelling headphones. Meditate to Improve Your Focus A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience indicates that meditators may be better equipped than non-meditators to pay attention and concentrate. An email from another blogger asking you to write a guest post for their blog.

An invitation to be part of a panel. Improve Your Focus by Taming Your Monkey Mind Monkey mind are those thoughts that swing from limb to limb in your head.

Did I make that phone call? I think he looked a little angry. Is he angry at me? What could I have done to make him angry?

Have I? Start a journaling practice—this will allow you to clear your head. When your mind wanders use your breath to bring your attention back to the task at hand. Improve Your Focus by Taking Regular Breaks A lot of people equate taking breaks with wasting time.