Increasing Attention Span: Quickstart Guide

Hey there, everybody, and welcome to this brief video on improving your attention span. I'm your host, Dr. Donnelly Snipes. A lot of people have asked me for tips to broaden their attention span, and it's important to recognize that for the average adult, your attention span is probably anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. So cut yourself some slack if you're not able to focus for two hours consistently. Well, not many people are. That doesn't mean you can't work on expanding your attention span, but be realistic about where you're starting from compared to where other people are. So some tips that can help most people eliminate distractions the first one we'll talk about are physical distractions. If you are hungry, if you're in pain, if your legs falling asleep, if you've got a pee, or if you're tired, you are likely going to have more difficulty focusing on things than if you didn't have those issues. So plan. Pay attention periodically. For example, when you're working, take breaks so you can stretch your shoulders, you can stretch your back, you can get up and walk around for a second, you can go to the bathroom, and then you can sit down for another period of focused attention. Cognitive distractions are those thoughts that just come in and interrupt your train of thought. You're working on a project for work and all of a sudden you remember, oh, I need to remember to get cat litter on the way home. All right? It happens to the best of us. Keep a notepad by whatever you're working on so you can jot that down. That way you don't have to remember to remember to get the cat litter. Just jot it down so it's out there. You're getting that thought out of your head and onto paper. That's one technique. Through meditation, which we're going to talk about on the next slide, you can also learn to control some of those thoughts and keep your mind from wandering quite as much. But for now, you know, one of the easiest ways is to just keep a pad of paper next to you so you can jot down some of those things that pop into your head so you don't have to try to remember them. Environmental distractions are probably the biggest distractions that people experience. And sights can be whatever that catches your attention out of the corner of your eye, whether it's your dog walking by or a bird or somebody person walking by. That can distract your attention from what you're focused on. So you may need to be in an environment that is more controlled. Smells can also impact our Ability to focus. Some essential oils can help you focus a little bit more, but other essential oils may tend to cause more relaxation and make it more difficult to focus. And then there are also just other smells, noxious smells, like somebody who stinks or if your dog's sitting next to you and passes gas might make it a little bit difficult to maintain focus. On the other hand, things like the smell of coffee or pizza or, well, I get distracted by food really easily if you couldn't tell. But those can be distracting. So I may arrange my study environment so I am not subject to those things. I may study in the library instead of at my favorite coffee shop. Sounds can distract people. You can manage those sounds either through noise canceling headphones, through putting on headphones and listening to classical music. If you prefer that through ear earplugs, or just turning off extraneous sounds in your environment. You know, turn off the tv, turn off the radio and TV and phone. Turn those off. You know, those can distract your attention very easily. Your brain can only process so much input at one time and if it's got multiple verbal signals coming in, it's going to jump between them a lot of times. So turning off things that are not what you want to focus on can be helpful. Along with that, turn off those annoying pop up notifications. If you're working on a computer, those tend to distract and waste a whole lot of time because you may be working and really in a groove and then all of a sudden you get a pop up about an email and that takes your attention away. It's kind of like those cognitions, those thoughts that just pop into your head, those pop up notifications. Even if you don't go handle the email, it took you out of your zone and it's going to take you some time to get back into your zone. Turn off those pop up notifications and figure out, okay, when am I going to check my email? For me, I check my email first thing in the morning and right before I go home. But I don't have the notifications on during the day because I need to be able to focus. I'm not one of those people who does well with interruptions. I do much better if I have an entire day that's interruption free, that I can just sit down and write, focus on one task at a time. Instead of putting all your books or whatever it is on the table and saying, all right, I need to study, set small goals, chunk what you've got to do, and focus on one task at a time. So Sit down and say, all right, I need to get through sections one through three of my biology chapter. Okay, that is something that is doable probably in under 30 minutes. Once you've done that task, you can check it off and mark it off your list. That increases your dopamine. That increases your norepinephrine. It increases your motivation and it helps you see small progress, but it helps you see progress nonetheless. Focusing on one task at a time also helps you know where you need to be paying attention. If I come in and I sit down at my desk in the morning and I say, okay, I need to do my work well, what should I start with? It's much easier if I have a list of what things I need to do and I focus on them one at a time. Email first, and then social networking and then this and then that so I can get it done instead of trying to jump back and forth between them. Increase your motivation for the task. Think to yourself. These tasks that I am trying to focus my attention on by getting this project done for my boss, or focusing on this biology chapter, or even focusing my attention while I'm at the gym, whatever it is I'm trying to focus my attention on by focusing on this task and getting it done and done right the first time. How is it going to help me sleep better? How is it going to improve my energy to not be worrying about it? How is it going to help me feel happier to have it done? How is it going to make sense and help me clear my head so I can focus on other things? How is it potentially going to improve my relationships with others when I'm not distracted and stressed out about all the stuff that I still have to do, or not being able to focus work during your time of the day. Not everybody's in a morning person like me know when you are most alert and when it's easiest for you to focus, whether that is in the morning or in the evening. And try to arrange your schedule so you can work during those times. Recognize your vulnerabilities, and this kind of goes along with eliminating distractions. But not every day is going to be an a day. Some days you get up and you're sick, your allergies are acting up, you didn't sleep well, you're just grumpy. Something else is going on in your life that's causing distress. Whatever the cases may be, if you are not feeling a hundred percent, it's going to be harder to focus because whatever it is that's causing your distress, your brain is programmed to pay more attention to that. It's programmed to say, hey, we need to focus over here, not on, you know, getting your notes done for today, so cut yourself some slack. And on those days, recognize you may need to pay more attention to some of the things we've already talked about. If you're having a day where it's difficult to focus, you may need to really double down on eliminating those distractions and setting those small goals so you can trudge through and get the must dos done for that day. Your first journaling prompt. I will know when I've improved my attention span. When. What does that look like for you? What is going to let you know that you have a better attention span and why do you want to do it? I don't often suggest caffeine, but the research is pretty undeniable that caffeine counters adenosine, which is the chemical that causes you to feel sleepy, and increases norepinephrine and dopamine, which are two chemicals that help you focus and pay attention. But I have an italics here a little bit, because a little bit can, you know, give you the boost that can be helpful if you're not overly sensitive to it. But too much, whatever that means for you, can actually put you into an anxiety state and hyperactivate your threat response system so you can't focus. So you don't want to have so much caffeine that you're jittery, that you, you're feeling kind of high, strong, but a little bit like a cup of green tea may be helpful for some people. Exercise has been repeatedly found to increase norepinephrine, to increase dopamine, to increase serotonin, all of which are helpful for focusing and to increase oxygenation. You're getting more oxygen to your brain. You're fueling it, you're supercharging it, which has been shown to increase attention. Practice meditation or mindfulness. In our culture, a lot of times we're taught to focus on multiple things at the same time, or we're not taught to focus on just one thing in the moment. So it's important to hone that skill. Just like you train yourself to lift weights, you're going to need to train your brain to focus on one thing at a time. And meditation or mindfulness meditation can be really helpful at this to help you increase your attention span when those other thoughts aren't bombarding, you get enough quality sleep when you're sleepy. You have too much adenosine in your, in your brain, and it's going to be hard to focus. That also means it doesn't mean just being in bed for a certain number of hours. The emphasis is on quality. So if you've got sleep apnea, that's not quality sleep. If you are, you know, legally drunk when you're going to sleep, you're not going to get quality sleep. So good sleep hygiene is really important and gradually increase the time that you are trying to focus. Work up by adding 30 seconds or a minute every day or every couple of days. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but that is manageable. If you sit and you try to focus for on something, anything of flickering flame or the tree outside your window for two minutes and focus on that without thinking of anything else, keeping your mind clear, you're going to realize how long two minutes can really be. So it's important not to set unrealistic goals. Gradually increase your time and over the course of three or six months you'll start to see pretty significant improvements. More Journaling Prompts what is different for you on days when you can focus? You know, a lot of people will find that they have particular vulnerabilities that make it more difficult to focus. So what is different for you? Did you get up at a different time of day? Did you start the day by exercising? Or did you start the day by going straight to work instead of going to the gym? First, you know what works for you. Pick one thing you want to pay attention to, whether it's listening to people in conversations without having your mind wander, focusing on your projects at work. Whatever it is for you, pick one thing. Identify five reasons you will benefit from improving your ability to pay attention to it, and then start working on it for more in depth. Resources addressing adult ADHD is available@allceus.com ADHD now, even if you don't have ADHD, there are a lot of tips and tricks that are in this much longer video that you may find helpful for increasing your attention span and your ability to get things done.