Concentration is the ability to focus on what you are doing and nothing else, essentially blocking out all-other stimuli and distractions. In modern society many jobs, and even everyday tasks at home, require a certain degree of concentration in order to complete them in a timely manner or even at all.
What is Concentration and Why is it Important?
For many of us the distractions in our environment seriously affect efficiency and productivity. For many of our youth, struggles with focus and concentration impair or inhibit learning. Not being able to finish a chapter, let alone a paragraph, can leave many students feeling frustrated and defeated. For adults, poor concentration can negatively impact relationships if friends and partners do not feel heard, respected, or valued. Maintaining employment or seeking promotions and advancement are detrimentally affected by concentration which can cause any variety of performance issues. The stakes are high and sweep across many facets of life.
What Causes Poor Concentration?
The list of variables that negatively affect concentration can be extremely long and often vary from person to person. Here are some of the more common factors that impact concentration.
- Mental Distractions: Nearly everyone can relate to having something else besides the task at hand weighing on their mind. This could be everyday stressors of what to make for dinner, when you will have time to clean the house, why your boss is looking at you funny, the pending outcome of the mechanic looking in your engine for that noise, to what you should do this weekend for fun. We all have multiple things on our mind, and it seems like they are all competing for our attention and solutions.
- Physical Distractions: In a world of visual stimuli, much of it intentionally trying to capture your attention, there are endless distractions putting a damper on our focus. These include billboards, texts, social media feeds, the noise and commotion across the street or down the hall, your phone ringing, and even the squirrel hopping across the yard.
- Emotional Distractions: Fear and anxiety are notorious for derailing thoughts and taking you down a rabbit hole of endless, “What if’s”. Anger and resentment may keep you ruminating and dwelling and make it hard to focus. Even delightful feelings such as excitement, joy, and love can sweep us away mentally and make it hard to focus on what you are doing.
- Physical Factors: They could be as simple as sleep deprivation; ask any parent who got up twice in the night with their infant just how rested and focused they are. Other things that could affect concentration could be hunger, certain medications, physical aches and pains, or medical conditions such as a concussion.
- Mental Health Factors: Depression and anxiety have poor concentration as a chief symptom. ADHD at its core is all about struggles with concentration and focus. Most other mental health issues also negatively affect concentration such as PTSD, OCD, schizophrenia, and addiction to name just a few.
How Can I Improve My Concentration?
For solutions to many problems with concentration the answer is dealing with the source of the distraction and working to eliminate or remedy it. Some are quite simple, such as getting more sleep, eating, finding a quiet place to read, turning off the phone or screens. Others are much more complex and involved. This may be exercising, implementing a plan for stressors, changing medications, or getting a mental health assessment and possible treatment. Tackle the easy fixes in your life first and then develop a plan for tackling the bigger stuff that might have multiple steps or take hours, days, or weeks to tackle and resolve. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. You don’t have to know how to fix everything, you just have to start somewhere and keep pushing so you can be the best version of you.
If you are interested in meeting with one of our psychiatrists or therapists to help figure out what is affecting your concentration, feel free to contact IPC so you can schedule an appointment. Please call us now at 763-416-4167, or request an appointment on our website: WWW.IPC-MN.COM so we can sit down with you and complete a thorough assessment and help you develop a plan of action that will work for you. Life is too short to be unhappy. Find the peace of mind you deserve.
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