In this article I will explain how to improve the lack of concentration in children, adolescents, adults and older people. If you have concentration problems and practices you will see good results.
Do you notice that lately it is difficult for you to concentrate more than normal? Do you have difficulty keeping your attention on the tasks you do?
Possibly, that is because you do not follow the correct guidelines to be able to concentrate in a suitable way.
How to deal with lack of concentration?
If it's hard for you to concentrate, it probably will not be for lack of desire. You may try to concentrate many times during the day but do not be at all Able to do it and easily distract yourself.
This happens because concentration is not a simple task. It is not enough to stick elbows on the table and wait for concentration to come to us.
And it is that the concentration should not be expected, it must be acquired little by little, and it requires certain guidelines and strategies to be effective.
10 exercises to solve problems of concentration
1. Give energy to your brain
The first and main advice that you should follow if you want to be able to concentrate is to monitor your diet so that your brain does not lack energy When you get to work.
This does not mean that you have to follow"the diet of concentration"or that you have to eat only certain foods, but you do have to have certain Aspects under consideration:
Your brain Consume a lot of energy, do not make him work on an empty stomach or having just a coffee. If you do, it will cost you much more to concentrate already That your brain will seek the energy necessary to do so and will not find it.
Try not to overeat before concentrating. If you eat a lot, your body will expend a great deal of energy in metabolizing food and doing The digestion, so it will be less for your brain. .
Try to include in your usual diet foods like: dairy, white meat, legumes, pasta, rice, fish, vegetables, fruit, and nuts.
Avoid overeating foods that are harmful to brain activity such as high doses of sugar, saturated fats, alcohol and beverages Sweetened soda.
Make a complete breakfast to start the day with energy: a glass of milk, an integral toast with a slice of ham and a piece of fruit, And hydrate well throughout the day.
In this article You have a list of good foods for the brain.
2. Give rest to your brain
As important as giving energy to your brain is giving you the necessary rest, and to do so Having slept well is indispensable.
During sleep, you nervous system Acquires the necessary balance in order to function properly.
If you do not sleep enough, you brain You will be tired, you may get upset, and have difficulty keeping you awake and alert throughout The day, so concentrating will make you practically impossible.
So, try to have a minimum of 7 hours of deep sleep every day and your brain will be fully prepared to get to work and concentrate With greater ease.
3. Train your concentration
If you have trouble concentrating you should not forget that concentration is like a muscle, and you can train and improve it through different exercises.
Concentration is a mental capacity closely linked to your habits, so if you want to develop an optimal concentration you must exercise it often.
There are a variety of exercises that you can do daily or periodically so that your concentration is getting better.
From attention exercises to relaxation exercises, through conscious observation or mental image. In this article you can learn 10 Exercises to improve your concentration.
4. Take a moment before concentrating
In times when you need a high concentration level as in an exam, when you study or before a major meeting, it is recommended that Take a couple of minutes to activate your concentration.
To do this you can do this exercise:
- Remember a moment of your past in which you experienced maximum concentration
- Try to remember vividly all the details: what you saw, heard, felt, smelled, etc.
- Close your eyes and imagine that you are coming back to life, with all those details.
- Do this exercise for about 4-5 minutes and you are ready for your concentration to work properly.
5. Create your space
What usually hinders concentration are distractions, so the first step to concentrate properly is that you are in a Environment that allows you to avoid any stimulus that may distract you.
Where will you focus better, in a clean and organized space or in a place full of things?
Will it be easier for you to concentrate by having the mobile ringing at your side every two minutes or in a quiet and quiet environment?
I think the answer is clear in both questions, so before you get ready to perform any activity that requires concentration, analyze Your surroundings.
It is about being able to identify those elements that often distract you, and remove them from the site where you will be working to make your environment Is optimal.
6. Separate your mind
Although the prior art is usually much easier to concentrate, we may not always be able to do so.
Maybe your work table is next to the one of your companion that they do not stop to call to him to the day or you have a photocopier to the side that does not stop make noise.
In these cases in which you can not eliminate the stimuli that distract you, a good exercise that you can do is imagine that you are separated from those stimuli And create your own environment.
For example: imagine that on each side of your table there are walls or curtains that separate you from the rest.
Perhaps this practice seems ineffective because no matter how you imagine you will continue to have your partner talking on the phone and the photocopier doing noise.
But it is not so! This technique can be effective if you intentionally imagine for a few minutes each day.
And is that our attention is like a flashlight, is directed to where we want. Thus, if we are accustomed to never go To those stimuli that bother you, imagining that you are separated from them, in the end you will become accustomed to ignore them.
7. Write by hand
Nowadays we are very accustomed to working with computers or other devices, which are usually more efficient and faster than manual writing.
However, the exercise of writing with our own hands on paper Contributes more to our concentration .
Therefore, to increase your concentration, it is often helpful to take some time and write down on paper those most important things.
If you do, you may slow down your work speed but at the same time your concentration will thank you, since you will be doing a Greater mental approximation to the task.
Taking into account that as we have seen before, when we distract ourselves when performing an activity it takes between 20 and 25 minutes to return to Concentrating, it may be more useful to work in a slower but more concentrated way.
So, if you distract yourself easily, I recommend that you do not forget the pen and the paper, and write the most important things by hand, build Schemes of work and make lists of the things that you have to do.
8. Relax
The worst enemy of concentration is the nervousness .
If you try to concentrate when you are nervous or agitated, your attention will go from side to side receiving a multitude of stimuli, you will focus excessively on the Thoughts that cause you nervousness and it will be very difficult to focus on a task.
However, it is already part of our lives to have to work with stress, quickly, nervous or worried about not being able to finish the chores.
Therefore, you must be prepared for stress to appear when you are performing activities that require concentration, and To handle it for what Do not stop you from focusing your attention on work.
So when you notice that anxiety or stress is gripping you when you are performing a task you can perform the following breathing exercise To regain the calm necessary to concentrate.
Sit down, sit down, and place your right hand on the abdomen.
Slowly inhale for 5 seconds, hold the air for 5 more seconds and exhale even more slowly (10 seconds) for
The nose or the mouth.As you perform the expiration slowly, imagine that the tension is escaping through the air that you are letting go.
Do this process 3 times in a row.
Once done, continue to breathe slowly, breathing through the nose for about 3 seconds and exhaling for 3 more seconds but
Without holding the air.
In this article you have other relaxation techniques.
9. Mark your times
Concentration is a high energy expenditure and sometimes what precipitates our distraction is the tiredness or the desire to rest and disconnect.
To turn this problem into an advantage you must do one very simple thing: organize and mark your work times.
For example: at 17:00 I will pause or when I have done the first 3 tasks I will rest.
By doing this, you will increase Your motivation for work Since you will know that after a certain time you will have a reward. Thus, You will work with more desire, more concentrated and you will not realize or that your time of rest will have arrived.
During the break you can take advantage of a cigarette, (if you smoke, it will improve your attention), drink coffee or do activities of your interest. But remember, you must do it for a short period of time, so that when you return to work your concentration remains intact.
10. Fix your look
It often happens that even though we may have good concentration when we do things on our own, it is difficult for us to maintain the Attention when we have to listen to someone in classes or lectures.
To save this problem you can do the following exercise:
First of all try to sit in the middle of the classroom.
When you notice that it begins to cost you to keep your attention, take a point of reference right in front of you (in the middle of the screen or blackboard) and Keep your gaze fixed for about 40 seconds.
After the 40 seconds relax your look (without looking at that point) and you will see how your peripheral look widens and you get to see The entire screen / whiteboard.
Your attention will once again focus on the teaching material and you will be able to focus on the class again.
The Importance of Concentrating Properly
Our brain Consumes a lot of energy.
In fact, it is estimated that it spends 20% of energy of our body, being the part of our organism that consumes more.
This happens because any action we take with any part of our body makes our brain work.
So one thing is clear: your brain, like mine and anyone else's, consumes a lot of energy.
In addition, when we perform cognitive activities (work, think, study, etc.) our brain still needs much more energy to function.
And this is where the"quit"of the question comes in: Concentration!
When we perform mental activities that require concentration we spend much more energy. But what if we try to do those activities without To be able to concentrate? Well, the energy expenditure goes off!
And it is estimated that when we are doing a task and we distract ourselves, it takes about 20 to 25 minutes on average to concentrate again.
This means that we spend a lot more time and a lot more energy to do the task, because we force our brain to make the effort again Of concentration.
Thus, if we are accustomed to working without concentration, we will spend much more energy, we will tire more easily, our efficiency will decrease and It will cost a lot to be a productive person.
These are the 10 tips that we propose you. What techniques do you use to concentrate better? Share them with us so readers can Benefit from them!
References
- How to improve concentration and intellectual development through food Dr Patricia Lopez Roldan. Nutrition © 2013.
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