The day starts with trying to get the kids off to school while texting your husband about dinner. Simultaneously, you’re sipping a cup of joe to wake up from a sleepless night. And you’re worried you may have forgotten to pay the utility bill.
Unfortunately, you’re so stressed out you feel like you could scream. You need to focus, but that’s nearly impossible given the situation. There’s too much to do in too little time.
If this sounds familiar, listen up. We’ve got big news for you. Four “seemingly normal” things are killing your concentration and affecting your life.
1. Technology
Did you really need to text your husband about dinner? Come on now, be honest. We know the truth. That text can wait.
When it comes to focus, you need to remember this equation: Technology= Trouble.
That’s because simple tasks like texting are concentration killers, and research backs this up. Dr. Larry Rosen addressed this concept for Psychology Today. Rosen organized a research team to study focus in 300 middle school, high school and college students. “Every minute we noted exactly what they were doing, whether they were studying, if they were texting or listening to music or watching television in the background, and if they had a computer screen in front of them and what websites were being visited,” Rosen said.
Guess what he found? Technology is a real problem when it comes to focus. The students were only able to concentrate for an average of three measly minutes.
“The major culprit: their smartphone and their laptop were providing constant interruptions,” Rosen said. And even more concerning, the team found that these distractions actually affect academic performance. “We also looked at whether these distractors might predict who was a better student,” Rosen adds. “Not surprisingly those who stayed on task longer and had study strategies were better students. The worst students were those who consumed more media each day and had a preference for working on several tasks at the same time and switching back and forth between them,”
So limit both personal and family technology use. No more texting while multitasking, and pencil in time for basic things like Internet browsing. Not only will you be more focused, but kids also will learn healthy habits when it comes to technology use in general.
2. Stress
Stress is a definite deterrent when it comes to concentration. This particularly applies to acute stress. That’s because acute stress actually affects the brain’s ability to function. According to the University of Maryland, “Stress affects the brain, particularly memory, but the effects vary widely depending on whether the stress is acute or chronic.”
Acute stress affects short-term memory, especially verbal memory. And at times, this just might be dangerous.
Chronic stress can cause sufferers to lose concentration, becoming inefficient and even accident-prone.
Studies have connected long-term exposure to excess amounts of the stress hormone cortisol to a shrinking of the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center. It is not yet known whether this shrinking is reversible.
So limit stress. Set designated worry times and then make a vow to turn off the worry when the time is up. (Yes, we know this is easier said than done.) And dump the unnecessary little things that add stress to your life. This will help your concentration in the long run.
3. Lack of Sleep
So you stayed up late to catch up on shows you’ve recorded on DVR?
While this sounds fun in the moment, it significantly can impact concentration significantly the next day. That’s because when you’re tired, it’s tough to focus.
A lack of sleep can lead to forgetfulness and memory loss in general, and studies back this up.
According to a University of California-Berkeley study, researchers found memories may get stuck in the hippocampus -- the part of brain involved in memory forming, organizing and storing -- due to the poor quality of deep, "slow-wave" sleep, which is then overwritten by new memories. Sleep deprivation can cause brain deterioration, which may help explain memory loss in the elderly.
So make it a habit to get enough sleep. Research published in the journal Sleep Health says that young adults and adults need seven to nine hours of sleep. And older adults need eight hours of sleep. In other words, no more late-night DVR if it’s going to get in the way of your precious snooze time. After all, you need to be able to concentrate, right?
4. Mindlessness
Mindlessness is the epitome of a lack of concentration. It’s the state of completely zoning out without having consciousness of what's going on in the moment. And it’s a problem when it comes to focus.
A good example of this is driving somewhere and realizing at the destination point that you have no recollection of the drive itself. You were anything but focused, right? That’s a scary thing.
The opposite of mindlessness is mindfulness. It’s the act of being in the present moment -- and focusing on the task at hand. And it’s one of the most important keys to increased concentration.
“By developing a mindfulness practice, we can spend more time with our attention in the present moment,” says Dr. William R. Marchand, a psychiatrist, mindfulness teacher and author of Mindfulness for Bipolar Disorder. “Anything can be done mindfully -- from checking our e-mail to taking out the trash.”
To shift from mindlessness to mindfulness, it’s important to notice exactly what’s going on in the moment -- no matter what that is. Make it the center of focus. “In a state of mindfulness, we are focused on what’s going on right here -- right now,” Marchand says. “Notice when your mind is wandering and make an effort to shift focus back to the present moment. This is how we learn to be more mindful.”
So next time your mind wanders, shift focus back to the task at hand. Your concentration will thank you in the long run.