Counterintuitively, some thrive with a little ambient noise and activity, so a local coffee shop may be their perfect spot for some quality focus time. Others need complete silence and lack of stimulation, so a designated room at home—door closed and headphones on—is ideal. Your brain will also become accustomed to switching over into focus mode when you enter that space.

Kara explains that there are a variety of time management techniques, or focus methods, that can help you learn how to limit distractions and stay on-task for stretches at a time. Every four cycles, take a longer to minute mental break where you can stretch your legs, check your phone, get a snack or take a quick walk.

The Pomodoro Technique helps train you to focus on completing one specific thing for very reasonable chunks of time, just 25 minutes or start with less time at first , and rewards you with a break that you must take in order to come back to another minute focus stretch refreshed.

It may sound obvious, but a planner or even a handy organizational phone app or calendar can be key to helping you stay focused, especially if you have a lot on your plate or to-do list.

Fuel your brain and body with bites and sips that support balanced energy and mental clarity. As often as you can, choose unrefined, healthy carbohydrates whole grains, oats, legumes, potatoes, bananas , lots of protein , and fiber-packed fruits and veggies.

This combo of nutrients will help give you sustained energy, reduce blood sugar spikes and subsequent crashes that make you foggy, fatigued, and unfocused , and feed and fortify your gut microbiome.

Steep yourself a cup of green or black tea, which not only has caffeine for a perk-up, but also contains L-theanine, an amino acid that's been shown to help boost concentration and attention. Although energy from a bit of sugar is important for optimal brain function , too much sugar—often consumed via processed foods and drinks with added sugars and sweeteners—can actually wreak havoc on your focus.

The single most important thing you can do for better focus and concentration, Dr. While multitasking can ultimately help you get things done, Dr. Keller AS, Leikauf JE, Holt-Gosselin B, Staveland BR, Williams LM. Paying attention to attention in depression. Transl Psychiatry.

Mancini E, Beglinger C, Drewe J, Zanchi D, Lang UE, Borgwardt S. Green tea effects on cognition, mood and human brain function: a systematic review. Kahathuduwa CN, Dassanayake TL, Amarakoon AMT, Weerasinghe VS. Acute effects of theanine, caffeine and theanine-caffeine combination on attention.

Nutr Neurosci. Mergenthaler P, Lindauer U, Dienel GA, Meisel A. Sugar for the brain: the role of glucose in physiological and pathological brain function. Trends Neurosci.

doi: 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. By Ashley Zlatopolsky. Sleep apnea harms your brain's health and could be why you may struggle to get consecutive hours of sleep.

Talk with your health care team if you or a loved one suspects you have sleep apnea. Your diet plays a large role in your brain health.

Consider following a Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes plant-based foods, whole grains, fish and healthy fats, such as olive oil. It incorporates less red meat and salt than a typical American diet.

Studies show people who closely follow a Mediterranean diet are less likely to have Alzheimer's disease than people who don't follow the diet. Further research is needed to determine which parts of the diet help brain function the most.

However, we know that omega fatty acids found in extra-virgin olive oil and other healthy fats are vital for your cells to function correctly, appear to decrease your risk of coronary artery disease, increase mental focus and slow cognitive decline in older adults.

Your brain is similar to a muscle — you need to use it or lose it. There are many things that you can do to keep your brain in shape, such as doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku, reading, playing cards or putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

Consider it cross-training your brain. Incorporate different types of activities to increase the effectiveness. Most health care teams don't recommend the paid brain-training programs available.

These programs often overpromise results or focus on memorization skills that aren't useful in everyday life. Your brain can get just as good of a workout through reading or challenging yourself with puzzles.

Finally, don't watch too much TV, as that is a passive activity and does little to stimulate your brain. Social interaction helps ward off depression and stress , which can contribute to memory loss.

Look for opportunities to connect with loved ones, friends and others , especially if you live alone. Research links solitary confinement to brain atrophy, so remaining socially active may have the opposite effect and strengthen the health of your brain.

The health of your arteries and veins is important to your heart health but it is also critical for brain health. Get your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol checked regularly and take steps to keep your numbers within a normal range.

Increase your physical activity, eat a Mediterranean diet and decrease your sodium consumption to lower blood pressure and cholesterol values.

Finally, tobacco and alcohol use are impactful on brain health as well, so only drink alcohol in moderation and don't smoke. Moderate drinking is defined as up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men.

Kelsey Kidd is a nurse practitioner in Neurology in Mankato , Minnesota.

Other signs of being unable to concentrate are problems with performing daily tasks like driving or doing dishes, feelings of restlessness, forgetfulness, difficulty making decisions , remembering recent events , lack of energy , and making mistakes.

Focus matters in all aspects of life: work, relationships, day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. Here are some strategies from experts to help you improve your focus and establish a successful cycle of motivation, concentration, and productivity.

While doing the same thing over and over might sound counterintuitive, it can actually help you develop focus and improve your concentration. Kara says. Counterintuitively, some thrive with a little ambient noise and activity, so a local coffee shop may be their perfect spot for some quality focus time.

Others need complete silence and lack of stimulation, so a designated room at home—door closed and headphones on—is ideal. Your brain will also become accustomed to switching over into focus mode when you enter that space.

Kara explains that there are a variety of time management techniques, or focus methods, that can help you learn how to limit distractions and stay on-task for stretches at a time. Every four cycles, take a longer to minute mental break where you can stretch your legs, check your phone, get a snack or take a quick walk.

The Pomodoro Technique helps train you to focus on completing one specific thing for very reasonable chunks of time, just 25 minutes or start with less time at first , and rewards you with a break that you must take in order to come back to another minute focus stretch refreshed.

It may sound obvious, but a planner or even a handy organizational phone app or calendar can be key to helping you stay focused, especially if you have a lot on your plate or to-do list.

Fuel your brain and body with bites and sips that support balanced energy and mental clarity. As often as you can, choose unrefined, healthy carbohydrates whole grains, oats, legumes, potatoes, bananas , lots of protein , and fiber-packed fruits and veggies.

This combo of nutrients will help give you sustained energy, reduce blood sugar spikes and subsequent crashes that make you foggy, fatigued, and unfocused , and feed and fortify your gut microbiome. Steep yourself a cup of green or black tea, which not only has caffeine for a perk-up, but also contains L-theanine, an amino acid that's been shown to help boost concentration and attention.

Although energy from a bit of sugar is important for optimal brain function , too much sugar—often consumed via processed foods and drinks with added sugars and sweeteners—can actually wreak havoc on your focus.

The single most important thing you can do for better focus and concentration, Dr. While multitasking can ultimately help you get things done, Dr. Keller AS, Leikauf JE, Holt-Gosselin B, Staveland BR, Williams LM. Paying attention to attention in depression.

Transl Psychiatry. Mancini E, Beglinger C, Drewe J, Zanchi D, Lang UE, Borgwardt S. Green tea effects on cognition, mood and human brain function: a systematic review. Kahathuduwa CN, Dassanayake TL, Amarakoon AMT, Weerasinghe VS. Acute effects of theanine, caffeine and theanine-caffeine combination on attention.

Nutr Neurosci. Mergenthaler P, Lindauer U, Dienel GA, Meisel A. Sugar for the brain: the role of glucose in physiological and pathological brain function.

Trends Neurosci. doi: 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. There are many things that you can do to keep your brain in shape, such as doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku, reading, playing cards or putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

Consider it cross-training your brain. Incorporate different types of activities to increase the effectiveness. Most health care teams don't recommend the paid brain-training programs available.

These programs often overpromise results or focus on memorization skills that aren't useful in everyday life. Your brain can get just as good of a workout through reading or challenging yourself with puzzles. Finally, don't watch too much TV, as that is a passive activity and does little to stimulate your brain.

Social interaction helps ward off depression and stress , which can contribute to memory loss. Look for opportunities to connect with loved ones, friends and others , especially if you live alone.

Research links solitary confinement to brain atrophy, so remaining socially active may have the opposite effect and strengthen the health of your brain. The health of your arteries and veins is important to your heart health but it is also critical for brain health.

Get your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol checked regularly and take steps to keep your numbers within a normal range. Increase your physical activity, eat a Mediterranean diet and decrease your sodium consumption to lower blood pressure and cholesterol values.

Finally, tobacco and alcohol use are impactful on brain health as well, so only drink alcohol in moderation and don't smoke. Moderate drinking is defined as up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men. Kelsey Kidd is a nurse practitioner in Neurology in Mankato , Minnesota.

Skip to main content. Posted By. Kelsey Kidd, APRN, C. Topics in this Post. Here are six things I recommend to my patients in order of importance: 1. Exercise regularly. Get plenty of sleep. Eat a Mediterranean diet. Stay mentally active.