

How To Focus – Proven Focus Techniques And A 3-Step Process Reduced cortical thickness, low testosterone, and increased oxidative stress decrease focus ( 22, 23, 24). High levels of beta or alpha brain waves, BDNF, myelination, klotho ( 16, 17, 18, 19), and blood flow to the brain (through nitric oxide production) are associated with improved ability to pay attention and focus ( 20, 21). The release of Dopamine, Noradrenaline, and Acetylcholine neurotransmitters enhance attention to help you focus ( 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15). Brain And Body Functions That Affect Focus You need to manage both if you want to focus. when something takes away your attention without a conscious choice ( 4). Bottom-down attention is involuntary i.e. when you direct your attention towards something at your will. This enhances your bottom-up and top-down attention. When you want to focus, the central executive network needs to be active and the default mode network activity needs to be low. It allows you to focus on a particular object or task. The central executive network (or the frontoparietal network) is involved in sustained attention and complex problem-solving. It’s also active when you’re thinking about yourself or others, remembering the past, imagining creative solutions, or planning the future. The default mode network is active when your mind is wandering or daydreaming. It filters out information to help you determine what’s important to focus on ( 3). The salience network is responsible for managing the constant stream of inputs in the brain. It consists of the salience network, the default mode network, and the central executive network. The triple-network model explains how focus works in our brain. The prefrontal cortex region of the brain plays important role in key executive functions including sustained attention, which is your ability to focus ( 2). What Happens In Your Brain When You Focus That’s why you have trouble focusing on anything. This reduces your ability to concentrate as it leaves no space for your brain to process and recharge. On average, we spend 12.5 hours a day consuming media ( 1). We’re increasingly spending more time in front of smartphones and tablets. While many factors (that we’ll discuss later in the article) can reduce your ability to focus, the biggest reason you can’t focus is that your mind is occupied with unproductive activities that zap your mental energy.

I know how to train it and tame it.īefore I share the tricks with you, let’s understand why you can’t focus. Because I know how it operates, now I can focus on command. I would zone out while listening to people.įinally, I’ve learned how the brain works. I could not read books or work on tasks for a long time. I would think random thoughts or plan useless things until eventually, I would give up and find something else to do. I would do anything to avoid the task at hand. My monkey mind would jump from one branch to another looking for distractions. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t focus. I thought there was something wrong with me.
