Exercising is beneficial for the mind, body and soul - you know covering the whole trifecta and all, not just for the body alone. However just like the body the mind and soul need a wee bit of training too. How to achieve that you ask? Read on :)
Personally I have a very short attention span, it's worse than a toddler actua...oooh lookie a cookie! ^_^
Erm, where was I? Oh yes, attention span...
Research shows the graph for attention span curving something like this:
As you can probably see it is not the best of situations to be in. Scientifically speaking the average attention span tends to range from 8-20 seconds, and yes I'm generalizing that. So if you are thinking a thousand thoughts in a matter of seconds and most of them interfering with the more important stuff that your brain's gotta think about, then I'd say you too, my friend, suffer from short attention span or more commonly, what Indian educators like to call "lack of concentration". It wouldn't come as a surprise if I were to say I've heard that phrase a one too many times, so I zeroed in on some of the nifty tricks they have for people like me and practiced them religiously for about 5 minutes everyday. They worked, I know because these days I can actually finish an entire thought without ADHD-ness kicking in (no pun intended to people actually suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). The tips came from the mouth of a psychology professor, so I can assure you right now these work and don't require you to gulp down (a keep it down) a plethora of ancient ayurvedic and herbal tonics in order to cure your concentration deficit. Today we are going to hone the mind for better concentration levels through some effective and fun brain workouts. Seriously, it is not as tedious as it sounds, I promise!
Exercise 1:
Count backwards from 100 to 1 silently. If that seems too easy try counting from 100 to 1 but this time subtract 3 (or even 7) from the previous number so that you get a series like 97,94,91,.. so on
Exercise 2:
Try solving anagrams. They offer stellar brain workouts. I found that apart from helping to concentrate, it also dusts your vocabulary! So go ahead, choose a word and start rearranging the letters in it to make as many words as possible with them.
Exercise 3:
Avoid the TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read) culture at all costs. Read as much as you can, be it books, newspapers or blog articles, and read slowly. Practice reading continuously for 5 minutes and gradually lengthen the time span to 15 or 30 minutes. Before long you'd be reading for 60 minutes straight. Start by reading this article in its entirety. ;)
Exercise 4:
Dot your i's and cross your t's. Write complete words and stay away from too many abbreviations and SMS or texting language. While you can still shorten your texts to your heart's content while IM-ing, refrain from doing the same say on an assignment paper or personal journal. This deceptively simple (albeit a little time consuming at first) task ensures the longevity of your attention span and simultaneously ingrains in you the need to learn proper spellings - a task your high school teacher probably tried to instill in you and eventually gave up. Trust me when you goof up and write 'd' instead of 'the', in a mid-term English college essay, it will not reflect on you too kindly.
Exercise 5:
Practice Meditation. Keep some time aside to sit quietly and reflect on the day. Concentrate on a sound or word and replay it in your mind.
Exercise 6:
Exercise your body. Research shows that working out keeps you significantly alert and improves memory and attention. Now you have even more reasons to put on those workout shoes and go for a run.
Exercise 7:
Sit straight on a chair with your head up, chin out and shoulders back. Raise your right arm up to the level of your shoulder, pointing to your right. Look around, moving your head only and fix your gaze on your fingers. While doing so, keep your arms perfectly still for one minute. Repeat this exercise with your left arm. Once you are able to keep your arms perfectly steady, increase the length of time to reach up to 5 minutes with each arm. The easiest position is to turn the palm of your hand downwards when it is outstretched. If you are able to keep your eyes fixed on the tips of your fingers, you will be able to tell if your arm is perfectly still. I found this one on some website and needless to say it works so I included this in the list as well!
So now you can boost your concentration with these tips. At the end of the week if you can sit and read through a whole page of that text book or office document or have managed to stick your concentration to the class lecture, don't forget to reward yourself with a gluten-free cookie. ;-)
These exercises are helpful for almost everyone and I hope you give them a try! If you have some tricks and tips up your sleeves on this topic, don't forget to share it in a comment.
:)
Personally I have a very short attention span, it's worse than a toddler actua...oooh lookie a cookie! ^_^
Erm, where was I? Oh yes, attention span...
Research shows the graph for attention span curving something like this:
As you can probably see it is not the best of situations to be in. Scientifically speaking the average attention span tends to range from 8-20 seconds, and yes I'm generalizing that. So if you are thinking a thousand thoughts in a matter of seconds and most of them interfering with the more important stuff that your brain's gotta think about, then I'd say you too, my friend, suffer from short attention span or more commonly, what Indian educators like to call "lack of concentration". It wouldn't come as a surprise if I were to say I've heard that phrase a one too many times, so I zeroed in on some of the nifty tricks they have for people like me and practiced them religiously for about 5 minutes everyday. They worked, I know because these days I can actually finish an entire thought without ADHD-ness kicking in (no pun intended to people actually suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). The tips came from the mouth of a psychology professor, so I can assure you right now these work and don't require you to gulp down (a keep it down) a plethora of ancient ayurvedic and herbal tonics in order to cure your concentration deficit. Today we are going to hone the mind for better concentration levels through some effective and fun brain workouts. Seriously, it is not as tedious as it sounds, I promise!
Exercise 1:
Count backwards from 100 to 1 silently. If that seems too easy try counting from 100 to 1 but this time subtract 3 (or even 7) from the previous number so that you get a series like 97,94,91,.. so on
Exercise 2:
Try solving anagrams. They offer stellar brain workouts. I found that apart from helping to concentrate, it also dusts your vocabulary! So go ahead, choose a word and start rearranging the letters in it to make as many words as possible with them.
Exercise 3:
Avoid the TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read) culture at all costs. Read as much as you can, be it books, newspapers or blog articles, and read slowly. Practice reading continuously for 5 minutes and gradually lengthen the time span to 15 or 30 minutes. Before long you'd be reading for 60 minutes straight. Start by reading this article in its entirety. ;)
Exercise 4:
Dot your i's and cross your t's. Write complete words and stay away from too many abbreviations and SMS or texting language. While you can still shorten your texts to your heart's content while IM-ing, refrain from doing the same say on an assignment paper or personal journal. This deceptively simple (albeit a little time consuming at first) task ensures the longevity of your attention span and simultaneously ingrains in you the need to learn proper spellings - a task your high school teacher probably tried to instill in you and eventually gave up. Trust me when you goof up and write 'd' instead of 'the', in a mid-term English college essay, it will not reflect on you too kindly.
Exercise 5:
Practice Meditation. Keep some time aside to sit quietly and reflect on the day. Concentrate on a sound or word and replay it in your mind.
Exercise 6:
Exercise your body. Research shows that working out keeps you significantly alert and improves memory and attention. Now you have even more reasons to put on those workout shoes and go for a run.
Exercise 7:
Sit straight on a chair with your head up, chin out and shoulders back. Raise your right arm up to the level of your shoulder, pointing to your right. Look around, moving your head only and fix your gaze on your fingers. While doing so, keep your arms perfectly still for one minute. Repeat this exercise with your left arm. Once you are able to keep your arms perfectly steady, increase the length of time to reach up to 5 minutes with each arm. The easiest position is to turn the palm of your hand downwards when it is outstretched. If you are able to keep your eyes fixed on the tips of your fingers, you will be able to tell if your arm is perfectly still. I found this one on some website and needless to say it works so I included this in the list as well!
So now you can boost your concentration with these tips. At the end of the week if you can sit and read through a whole page of that text book or office document or have managed to stick your concentration to the class lecture, don't forget to reward yourself with a gluten-free cookie. ;-)
These exercises are helpful for almost everyone and I hope you give them a try! If you have some tricks and tips up your sleeves on this topic, don't forget to share it in a comment.
:)
