Focus and concentration are important in our everyday lives. Scientists discovered that a person’s ability to focus can be an important predictor of future success. Many influential and successful people, such as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, have emphasized the importance of simplicity and focusing on priorities.
Here are seven effective brain fitness routines that you can do to improve your focus and concentration throughout the day:
Play Cognitive Games
Our first brain fitness routine that you can do anywhere is playing mental or cognitive games. There are a lot of cognitive games that are played around the world. The popularity of cognitive games has grown in recent years, and it was a big help, particularly among people with learning disabilities. Studies proved that cognitive or mental games are an interactive way to improve your core cognitive skills, such as focus, concentration, and attention.
Brain games are intended to improve and strengthen specific cognitive skills, such as your ability to concentrate and focus. Brain training can be an extremely beneficial tool that you can do with your family and friends. Whether you are attempting to increase focus on academic or athletic performance.
Read Books
Another brain fitness routine that you can do every day to improve your focus is reading. Research studies proved that reading something improves your focus abilities. Reading books stimulates the prefrontal cortex which is the area of your brain that affects concentration and focus among other things. Reading for at least 30 minutes daily can help in improving your focus, attention span, and memory.
Reading books can also positively affect focus while studying. Making tasks that use mental performance often requires long periods of concentration. Reading, especially fiction, improves specific brain connectivity which is needed for a long attention span.
When you read a book that has a fiction story you are focused on the story and you immerse yourself in every fine detail during your reading sessions. You force the applicable brain connections to be active for uninterrupted periods. This is the same focus needed when you are studying or working on something.
See Also: Brain Fitness: The Importance Of Sleep For Better Brain Function
Do Some Meditation
Meditation is probably the best brain fitness routine that you need to do to improve your focus. Doing meditations forces you to focus and concentrate on a specific point, such as a word, breath, or object. The goal of meditation is to clear your mind and refocus your attention on a single point, preventing your mind from wandering.
There are other ways to practice meditation if you don’t like to sit still. Yoga and tai chi, for example, both use slow, repetitive movements that center on the breath to help you relax both physically and mentally. Additionally, you don’t need to set aside a lot of time for meditation. Simply setting aside a few minutes each day can make a big difference in your ability to concentrate and focus. Numerous studies have shown that meditation can help you focus better throughout the day and reduce distractions.
Memorize Some Stuff
Many studies suggest that memorizing can help improve your memory by stimulating neural plasticity, which changes the neural pathways in the brain. When you memorize new information, the functional changes in these pathways can help improve both your short-term and long-term memory.
While memorization appears to be out of favor, studies show that it can help you improve your memory, focus, concentration, and even critical thinking ability. Memorization can help you stay sharp and avoid the dreaded cognitive decline.
Practicing memorization is a great addition to your brain fitness routine. Things like remembering what meals you ate yesterday or the color of the clothes you wore previously is a great practice to improve your focus and memory by observing things.
See Also: Focus: The Ultimate Guide on How to Improve Focus and Concentration
Learn New Language
Another brain fitness routine that you can do in your free time is learning a new language. Language learning helps improve people’s thinking skills, focus, and memory abilities. Bilingual students concentrate and focus better, by ignoring distractions more effectively than those who only speak one language. Because the language centers in the brain are so flexible, learning a second language can develop new areas of your mind and improve your brain’s natural ability to focus.
Studies suggest that bilingualism improves your brain’s executive function. It helps with ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another, and holding information in mind. Learning another language is one of the most effective and practical ways to increase intelligence, improve focus and concentration, keep your mind sharp, and buffer your brain against aging.
Listen To Music
The easiest brain fitness routine that you can do is by listening to music when you are trying to focus and concentrate on something. Music helps you concentrate by blocking out distracting noise. Music acts as a stimulus that engages the brain, which modifies your mood and provides a rhythm that keeps you alert. This serves to make the task at hand more engaging, less dull, and easier to focus on.
Music strengthens the auditory, visual/spatial, and motor cortices of the brain. These areas are tied to speech and language skills, reading, reading comprehension, math, problem-solving, brain organization, focus, and attention challenges.
See Also: Tips to improve concentration
Regular Exercise
Another thing that you need to include in your brain fitness routine is physical activity. When you do any type of intense physical activity, it puts a lot of blood to flow to the brain. This in turn fires up your neurons and promotes cell growth, particularly in the hippocampus. This means that just a few minutes of exercise before studying or going to work can improve your concentration and help you focus to do your tasks at school and work.
