Eternal Ulysses

This is our third post on increasing focus. Last time we covered six more techniques for increasing focus:

• Intentional warm up periods,
• Dedicated focus periods,
• Lowering the number of priorities we dedicate focus to,
• Working with our ultradian rhythms and taking substantive breaks,
• Allowing time for mind wandering and boredom,
• Prioritizing healthy sleep. 

Of those, the determining factor of our focus level each day is sleep; all other techniques, strategies, or ‘hacks’ rest upon that foundation.  Our working memory and the other regions of the brain are constantly expending energy, and it’s while we’re sleeping that they get the break they need for us to focus during the day.

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to create new connections, and it is the reason we can learn and process new information. On a biological level our brain cells form neural links which, over time, become the pathways that define our habits.

Perhaps you, like me, used to have an easy time focusing on a task that you used to enjoy, and now you find it difficult to concentrate on them; that’s the other end of neuroplasticity. When we stop regularly engaging in an activity the neural connections responsible for that activity begin to loosen and the regions of the brain responsible for that task begin to shrink. This happens naturally as we age, but we never lose the ability to create neural connections as we get older.

To increase your neuroplasticity there are several actions you can take: the brain likes new information, new environments, new people, new experiences; go to a new restaurant, put in a few minutes on Duolingo, play a difficult game. Your brain starts processing the new information and begins making more connections.

Sleep is important, it cleans the protein buildups in the brain and processes the information from the previous day. A healthy diet is necessary to provide the brain with the resources it needs to create new cells. Exercise does several things regarding neuroplasticity: the dopamine released from exercise serves as a neuromodulator and helps with the formation of new connections, but more on that below.

While we’re (re)developing our ability to focus for extended periods of time, we need to keep in mind that focusing is context specific. If you want to increase your focus while reading, you have to read. If you want to improve your ability to focus on a work project, you have to focus on that work project to produce and then reinforce the neural connections.

Exercise

Research recommends getting 20 to 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day.  Exercise increases the volume of the regions of the brain responsible for executive functioning which in turn increases our capacity for attention and our working memory. Exercise also improves our overall heart health – which in turn increases the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain which supports our ability to focus.

The effects can be immediate – when you engage in moderate to high intensity exercise the brain releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter which increases the plasticity needed to produce neural connections. Dopamine also supports the brain’s ability to regulate emotions, which is an under-discussed and vital element of focusing.

To reap the most benefit from this immediate boost only a moderate amount of exercise is recommended; a workout that is too intense can have a negative effect on cognitive ability. The effects of a single workout will vary, but the research shows increased levels of focus after six months of daily exercise (again, studies recommend 20 to 30 minutes a day). Aerobic exercises (running, walking, swimming) are ideal as they increase the blood flow to the brain and support heart health, but weightlifting and high-intensity interval exercises have also shown benefits for executive function and spatial memory specifically.

Researchers in The Journal of the American Geriatric Society found that Tai Chi, with its emphasis on breathing and precise movements has benefits for executive function, memory, attention, problem solving, and verbal reasoning. One study found that Yoga Nidra, practiced 2 or 3 times a week for 10 to 20 minutes, produced a 60% increase in dopamine. Any form of exercise is going to be good for you, and some is better than none; find something that you enjoy.

Stress

We all experience immediate stress: our senses (sight, hearing, touch) are constantly sending signals to our amygdala. When the amygdala perceives a threat it releases a flood of hormones to the hypothalamus which sends a series of commands to our sympathetic nervous system – the fight or flight response. This provides a temporary boost to the body to ward off an attack – we see increases in blood flow, blood pressure, and heart rate, alongside decreased reactions to pain and a decreased immune response and the body enters a state of raised alertness.

This alertness can be directed towards increased levels of focus, that’s its purpose. This is why you may find it easier to lock in before a deadline; but importantly these responses are only meant for a short period of time. Long term stress can be caused by a variety of factors (the workplace) which are beyond the scope of this essay, but the effects of prolonged stress adversely affect our ability to focus and, eventually, lead to burnout.

Importantly, chronic stress impedes our ability to get good sleep. Sleep is the body’s way of cleaning up each day – it’s while we’re asleep that our glymphatic system clears out neurotoxic proteins (amyloid, tau, alpha-synuclein) which contribute to neurodegeneration. This system activates each night during sleep, and the poor-quality sleep caused by stress further increases the negative effects of that stress. Studies have shown that even just one night of poor-quality sleep causes a detectable increase in these neurotoxic proteins.

So how to break out of this cycle? Exercise. With its release of dopamine and increased emotional regulation, it is the body’s natural way of dealing with the immediate physiological effects of stress. Go for a run, they’re good for you.

DIET

The brain needs vitamins and nutrients for an optimal working memory. To skip to the important part, you shouldn’t have more than 400mg of caffeine a day (so 2 to 4 cups of coffee). Instead of coffee, you can try Green Tea, which contains L Theanine, an amino acid which helps with neuroplasticity

Mediterranean diets, with their lean proteins and healthy fats, have confirmed benefits regarding brain health; The fish in mediterranean diets provide Omega 3 fatty acids, and olive oil provides the brain with healthy fat.

Eggs are particularly high in choline, which supports brain function, memory, and mood. Leafy greens such as spinach, cabbage, kale, arugula, and chard are high in fiber and antioxidants. Blueberries which are high in flavonoids and anthocyanins support heart health (research suggests that 1/3^rd of cup a day). Walnuts are high in Omega 3’s, folates, and Vitamin E. Research is still ongoing, but its suggested that probiotic-rich foods support the brain-gut connection and can help fend off distractions.

As for dessert, a daily regimen of 35g of 70% dark chocolate, which is rich in flavonoids, and polyphenol, has shown benefits for brain health.

Social Connection

Alongside the ‘Big 3’ of diet, exercise, and sleep, social connection has an important role to play in increasing focus and overall cognitive function. Connection is the important bit; it’s more than just social activity. When we’re engaged and fulling attending another individual, our brain begins to release oxytocin which helps with emotional balance and attention in social situations.

That’s one of the direct benefits of social connections on focusing, but the absence of social connection has serious negative impacts on focusing and our overall cognitive ability. When an individual is alone for too long, their hippocampus begins to shrink, neural links begin to loosen, the prefrontal cortex becomes less active, and the amygdala begins to become hyperactive.

Our brains are the same as they were on the savannah 10,000 years ago, and when we’re alone our brain interprets it as a threat, and our ability to get quality sleep plummets. Just as prolonged periods of stress have an adverse effect on cognitive function, prolonged periods of social isolation make focusing increasingly difficult.

However, our neuroplasticity allows us to recover from prolonged periods of loneliness. We can do this by rebuilding our cognitive reserve, and there are several strategies that can help us with this. The first is cognitively stimulating activities, this can take the form of an intellectually challenging career or a hobby. Exercise, again linked to neuroplasticity, stimulates nerve growth and the formation of new connections. Education, formal or informal, increases cognitive reserve as the brain re-starts the systems necessary for processing complex information. And finally, unsurprisingly, part of the way to deal with loneliness is to gradually increase your social activities. This can take the form of volunteering, a new hobby or starting a new sport.

Sleep, diet, exercise, and social connection: the big 4.  

Train Your Visual Focus

When our eyes are focused the brain begins to release acetylcholine and a small amount of adrenaline and the brain begins to hone in on the task we’re visually attending. When we’re distracted, or tired, our eyes naturally begin to wander, and we increase the number of times we blink per minute. Get that sleep.

In our first post we discussed removing distractions and choosing an environment that supports your thresholds for different kinds of stimuli. If you’re in an environment where people are constantly moving around, your focus will be repeatedly drawn away –this is natural, which is why you should choose a visually calm environment that supports visual focus.

There are additional strategies you can use to boost visual focus. One is an elevated laptop – the act of looking up triggers the brain to increase our focus level. The next is to pick a spot or point on a page or in your surroundings and focus on it for 40 seconds; the brain will begin to adjust and release epinephrine. Epinephrine produces a small sense of agitation, which means that you are doing it right.

Other Things

There are other techniques out there, and its beyond our scope here to cover every technique. The best things you can do each day are get some exercise and full night of good sleep. These things determine your biological baseline. There are other novel approaches such as pomodoro timers or binaural beats – if those work for you, good.

Mindfulness

Above, when we were discussing neuroplasticity, we qualified that increased focus is context specific. If you want to increase your focus while reading, you have to read, etc. etc. There’s one caveat to that: mindfulness. Research shows that the number one way to increase the brain’s ability to focus across all tasks is mindfulness meditation.

Meditation practices involve returning the mind’s focus to a bodily function or sensation, normally breath. Each of the ‘feel good’ chemicals, dopamine (pleasure), serotonin (happiness), and GABA (calmness) see dramatic increases after meditation. Brain waves slow down and over time the structure of the brain begins shift. Our Default Mode Network, the regions of the brain which are responsible for mind wandering, become less active and have less anxious thoughts after meditation.

There are several different forms of meditation, but the act of repeatedly recentering focus during mindfulness meditation is directly transferable to refocusing in other contexts. Surveys show improvements in memory, mood, emotional regulation, and improvements in sleep, as well as reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress.

Research shows that one successful 17-minute mindfulness session has a permanent increase on overall focus, and that daily 10-minute mindfulness sessions create a detectable increase in focus after 8 weeks.