A lot of people might think that concentration and brain power in general relates to age, but do you realize that you can actually train yourself to be sharp as you used to be in a younger age? At this day and age, a lot of distractions coming in a form of gadgets and information might put us off track, but on this week's journal, following these few simple steps can help you regain your concentration back!
1. Fuel your body with proper food
As the brain is a high performance organ, you shouldn’t expect your brain to run smoothly when it is fed with processed, artificial food. Refined sugar is especially bad news. Sugar will give you a temporary mental boost but ultimately sends your blood sugar and your ability to concentrate on a roller coaster ride. Sugar negatively impacts your attention span, short-term memory, ability to learn, and mood. It actually changes your brainwave patterns, making it hard to think clearly.
Foods that favor a healthy brain include fruits especially berries of all kinds, green leafy vegetables, nuts, cold-water fatty fish, coconut oil, dark chocolate, rosemary, and turmeric. They contain the vitamins, minerals, essential fats, antioxidants, and phytonutrients your brain needs to function well.
2. Take brain-boosting supplements
Our Relief Sari Kunyit supplement is perfect to boost your brain power an improve your concentration in the long run. Research shows that turmeric extract (curcumin) helps relieve symptoms of brain fog by combating oxidative stress and providing cleaner connections for brain cells. Curcuminoids also increase the bioavailability of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid which is essential to maintaining your brain’s regular health.
Turmeric extract also increases neuroplasticity, which increases your brain’s ability to grow and learn new things throughout life. Many adults today don’t think they can learn new things like a child can, but this doesn’t mean that it’s gone forever. Neuroplasticity can be trained back in through learning new things like sewing, knitting, or doing other crafts, as well as reducing inflammation and increasing the level of plasticity through supplements like turmeric.
3. Consume caffeine wisely
When consumed wisely, your favorite cup of coffee can definitely help you concentrate and focus and provide a temporary energy boost. Caffeine increases alertness, memory, focus, and productivity by increasing the levels of the brain chemical dopamine.
Despite its brain-altering components, caffeine actually reduces blood flow to the brain. There is little point in taking brain-boosting supplements that work by increasing blood flow to the brain like ginkgo biloba or curcumin if you regularly consume caffeine. Also, be careful not to overdo it and might as well avoid caffeine entirely if you are prone to anxiety since it can double your levels of stress hormones, causing insomnia, irritability, heart palpitations, and even full-blown panic attacks.
4. Get enough sleep
Not getting enough sleep even for just one night can trigger your thought processes to slow down. You can become so confused that you can’t perform tasks requiring complex thought, making you less vigilant and reduces both your accuracy and speed on mental tasks. It’s especially hard to remember and learn new things when you’re sleepy, thus your concentration level suffers. If your sleep problems become chronic and long-term, your reduced ability to focus can become your new normal, which can negatively affect your employment, relationships and personal growth.
5. Keep moving
Physical exercise can improve a person's memory and concentration. Exercising regularly also helps you combat conditions that make concentrating difficult, such as depression, anxiety, and fatigue. Different types of exercises perform different roles to improve concentration, so it's important to incorporate both aerobic and strength training exercises into your workouts. Along with helping brain cells to survive, regular exercise also reduces inflammation and insulin resistance.
6. Focus on one thing at a time
Being stressed out and trying to do a zillion things at once hinders your capability of concentrating. Stress can improve focus due to a burst of adrenaline in a short period, but over time, stress takes a toll on your mental powers, leading to reduced attention span, poor judgment, and memory impairment. Chronic stress triggers long-term changes in brain structure and function causing certain areas of the brain to literally shrink.
Multitasking needs to be especially avoided as it actually hinders productivity and sacrifices the efficiency of one task for another. Another concentration drain is clutter. Research shows that clutter affects one's ability to process information. On the other hand, uncluttered space increases your ability to concentrate, making you more focused, relaxed, and productive.
