In this article I will explain 10 Exercises to improve concentration Mental disorders in children, adolescents, adults and the elderly.
Do you have difficulty focusing on work or study? Can not you keep your attention for a long time because you distract yourself easily?
Concentration is like a muscle, you can train and you can gradually acquire the skills necessary to be concentrated in the Things you do and avoid distraction.
What does it consist of?
Before we begin to see the exercises, I would like us to do a brief review of what the concentration is, so that the activities are understood In a clearer way.
Concentration is a cognitive activity, which although it may seem strange, is done through reasoning.
This cognitive activity is to focus our attention voluntarily on a particular aspect, and to be able to maintain it.
That is, concentration allows us to"put"information in our head so that all our attention is focused on a goal Concrete, and that other types of information are not distracted.
Why is it so important to concentrate?
Concentration is possibly the most useful capacity that the human being possesses.
And is that when we have a good ability to concentrate, we are able to work or Study much more effectively , Be more productive and Also allows us to carry out the activities in a more relaxed and pleasant way.
When we are doing a task and are distracted, it is estimated that it takes an average of 20 to 25 minutes to be able to concentrate on what We did, which is a very high expenditure of time and effort.
So, I suppose you will agree with me that it is much more useful and beneficial to perform tasks in a concentrated way than to do it with distractions.
However, nowadays we have a permanent number of stimuli around us that can incite us to distraction.
And what happens? As we gradually become accustomed to paying attention to these distractions so that we lose our ability to concentration.
So that this does not happen to us, it is convenient to train our concentration.
10 Exercises to Train Mental Concentration
1. Get organized before
The first of all and possibly the most important, rather than an exercise that can help us to improve our concentration is a requirement that we must Meet if we want to have this capacity.
And yes, this first requirement although we may not like it very much is the organization.
This organization involves two distinct aspects:
Environment without distractions:
No matter how well trained you are, if you try to concentrate on an environment full of stimuli that can distract you, you will not be able to Concentrate on the task you want to accomplish.
So, before you start, try to have an orderly environment without distractions: keep the door closed, the cell phone silent, your internet pages Favorites closed, etc.
Structure the tasks:
If you want to concentrate but do not know exactly what you are doing, in what order or in what form, the concentration you apply to the tasks that you are
Performing will be less useful, since it will not be a targeted concentration to a specific activity.
So, before you start, try to point out in a paper what are the tasks you will perform, how you will do them and in what order. This way you can use
Your concentration in a structured way.
2. Focus on one thing at a time
One of the problems that often prevent us from having the capacity to concentrate that we would desire is the fact of having multiple thoughts in Our head and not being able to focus on one.
When this happens, our ability to concentrate is greatly reduced because Our brain Is not designed to be able to concentrate on multiple Tasks or thoughts at once.
It is therefore as important to acquire a good capacity for concentration as to be able to apply that capacity to concrete facts and eliminate The multiplicity of thoughts in our mind.
To acquire this ability to extract a concrete thought, an exercise that can help us many is the following:
Sit in a chair, and when you are relaxed, out of all the thoughts that come to mind you choose only one.
The thought you choose can be anyone. For example: the talk you've had with your co-worker this morning, the photos I show you Your niece last week or the football game you saw on Saturday.
Once you have chosen it, spend about 5 minutes thinking about it and nothing else.
If you do this exercise on a regular basis, you will become accustomed to being able to focus your attention on a single thought when necessary and improve your Concentration will be easier for you.
3. Relax
Many times that which hinders our ability to concentrate are the states of anxiety , Nervousness or the inability to acquire tranquility When a task is performed.
And is that in order to concentrate properly, it is convenient to have a relaxed state and avoid the Excessive stress .
So if you notice that stress or anxiety interferes with your ability to concentrate, you can do the following deep breathing exercise:
Sit comfortably, gently close your eyes, and place your right hand on the abdomen.
Inhale through the nose and exhale through the nose or mouth.
Slowly inhale through the nose (5 seconds), hold the air for another 5 or 7 seconds, and breathe out for about 10 seconds.
As you breathe, imagine that the tension leaks through the exhaled air and you release it.
Perform this process 3 times in a row.
Once done all three times, move to controlled breathing: inhale through the nose for 3 seconds and expire for another 3 seconds,
But without holding the air.
In this article You can learn more relaxation techniques.
4. Use the numbers
One of the cognitive activities that most strengthen our concentration is the calculation.
To perform this type of mental operations requires a high level of concentration.
So if it is difficult for you to concentrate, practice these Activities in your free time in the best way you can contribute greatly to improve your ability to concentrate.
There are thousands of calculation activities to perform, and all will be effective to improve your concentration whenever you do them scrupulously.
Make the famous sudokus that for many people can be a more enjoyable way to carry out this type of activities, to do any type Of regular mathematical operation will improve your ability to concentrate.
5. Train Your Attention
As the concentration is a cognitive activity destined to Focus our attention On a concrete aspect, another very useful exercise is to train Our attention.
In other words, if we have more control over our attentional processes, it will be much easier for us to concentrate.
One of the most effective ways to work your attention in your free time is to make the typical soups of letters.
For example, before this soup of letters try to mark with a pencil:
- All the number 4 you find.
- All the letters T you find.
- All the odd numbers you find.
- All the vowels you find.
Once done, record the time taken to complete the four tasks.
6. A moment of mindfulness
Is a Mindfulness technique (Full awareness) that you can perform at any time of the day: before going to work, while waiting for the bus or When you pause in the office.
The exercise is to focus on your breathing for a couple of minutes, and your goal is to help you restore your thoughts, relax and Get that mental clarity that you may have been missing out on during the day.
To do this you have to stand, open your eyes, breathe with your belly (not with your chest), expel the air with your nose and focus all your Attention to the sound and rhythm of your breathing.
It is likely that when you do, other thoughts will come to your head. When this happens, strive to return your attention to the breath And ignore other stimuli.
Because it is a simple exercise that requires little time to do it, it is recommended to do so in those moments of stress, when you lack clarity of Ideas or you feel dazed in something.
By doing this in those moments you will restore your thoughts and your attention, you will be more reorganized the concepts of your head, and you will reach a more state Adequate to concentrate.
7. Conscious observation
This exercise, as well as mindfulness, is also a Mindfulness technique that can be performed in a simple way, and that can help you Much to improve your ability to concentrate.
In this case, conscious observation consists in choosing any object. It can be the cover of a book, a lamp or a cup of coffee The qualities of the object).
Once you have chosen the object, you must observe it very carefully and get your attention on it for about 3 or 4 minutes.
This simple exercise is very useful as it breaks with the routine of our mind. If we look, throughout the day we see many things, we observe some With more or less attention, but we seldom observe something in a 100% conscious way.
Thus, in so doing our mind is freed from certain thoughts, it focuses on the present and gives us a sense of"being awake"that Helps us focus on a specific aspect.
8. The mental image
Another exercise similar to that of conscious observation is the mental image.
As with the other exercise, you must choose any object you have on hand (a pencil, a fork, some shoes...) and observe it in a way Minute, focusing all your attention on him, and trying to remember every detail of that object.
Once you have observed the object as closely as possible for about 2 or 3 minutes, you should try to recreate a mental image on the Object in your head, so that the image is as close as possible to the object.
With this exercise, apart from focusing your attention on the present as in the previous one, you will work your information storage processes, so You must perform an extra concentration work to retrieve the information of the object you have just observed.
9. Expression of our memories
Thinking about our memories is an exercise that normally gives us pleasure or is pleasant to us, but at the same time requires a high Degree of concentration so that we can recover the information that is in our brain.
So, when we remember, apart from exercising our memory, we are training our concentration indirectly.
Now, we must remember in a structured and detailed way, it is not worth thinking about past events without focusing our attention completely on they.
Therefore, an exercise that we can carry out is to remember our vacations, writing down all the details we remember of them: where Were, with whom you went, what places you visited, what anecdotes happened, etc.
This exercise can be performed at night, in a relaxed and quiet way, for about 30-40 minutes before going to sleep.
10. Concentrate on your day
Another exercise you can do before going to sleep is to try to remember everything you've done all day when you get into bed.
It is a simple exercise, that does not require practically of effort and that it is recommended to realize it daily, acquiring the habit of doing this Exercise in the previous moments of falling asleep.
You can do it when you are lying in bed, and the goal is that during the 5 or 10 minutes you do this exercise, you can remember with The maximum possible detail everything you have done during the day, the people you have seen or the things that have caught your attention.
And what do you do to improve your concentration? Contact us!
References
- Reinoso García, A.I. Et al. (2008). Cognitive Stimulation Exercise Notebook 1. Institute of Public Health. Madrid Health. City of Madrid.
- Reinoso García, A.I. Et al. (2008). Cognitive Stimulation Exercise Notebook 2. Institute of Public Health. Madrid Health. City of Madrid.
- Tárrega, L., Boada, M., Morera, A., Guitart, M., Domènech, S., Llorente, A. (2004) Review Papers: Practical exercises of cognitive stimulation for patients with Alzheimer's in mild phase. Barcelona: Editorial Glosa.
- Www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQgDGyb5qtU.