Concentration is the ability to direct all your effort and attention onto one thing, without thinking of other things.During concentration, the whole energy of the mind focuses on the object of concentration, and only one thought occupies the mind.
Therefore, it is important to train ourselves at commanding our mind & controlling our attention and simultaneously increasing our concentration.
Before considering how to increase concentration, it is important to know the factors which are responsible for negatively affecting our concentration levels. Some of these are:
- Distraction: It is caused due to lack of attention or lack of interest in the subject matter. It can be created by both internal as well as external factors.
- Insufficient sleep&decreased physical activities: Now-a-days, increased use of gadgets has led to sleep deprivation anddecreased physical activities amongst children.
- Eating habits: Poor eating habits can be a major cause for illnesses, headaches and poor memory.
- Environment: Surroundings also affect a child’s retention, focus and concentration abilities.
To increase concentration, a number of natural and practical ways exist. Some of these are:
- Eliminate distractions: Try to find the reason behind your distractions and fix them.
- Reduce multitasking: Trying to do multiple things at once leads to lack of concentration and not even a single task ends up being done properly. So always complete tasks one by one and according to your priorities.
- Practice mindfulness and meditation: Recent studies have proved that meditation helps in improving concentration. So try to meditate, get centred on one thing and try to get rid of interrupting thoughts.
- Get adequate sleep: Sleep deprivation is a great hindrance to concentration and doing any task with efficiently. So try to get 7-9 hours of sleep every day.
- Choose to focus on the moment:Whenever you are studying or doing any task, your focus should be on that moment only. Forget about past or future and live in thepresent.
- Give yourself a break:Long hours of anything may not provide good results as the mind as well as the body gets tried. So it’s necessary to give yourself a break between these long hours so that you can re-start with the same energy level again.
- Take a walk and discover nature: Finding time to take a walk in the park, appreciating the natural surroundings will help refresh the body and mind.
- Train your brain: Scientific research is starting to amass evidence on the ability of brain training activities to enhance cognitive abilities, including concentration. Such brain training games can also help you develop your working and short-term memory, as well as your mental processing and problem-solving skills.
- Exercise:Yoga & exercise can also play an important role in improving your attention span. Different asanas are there which can sharpen your memory and can improve your focus.
- Listen to music:Music can help in increasing concentration. If loud music causes distraction then soft music can be chosen.
- Keep your phone away: Whenever you start studying or start doing any other important work, keep your mobile phone away from you. It can either be on silent mode or it can be turned off. Reducing digital distractions will help in increasing concentration.
- Manage your momentum: Once you have set your goals, try to work towards achieving goals daily. Something significant should be done every day to further your goals.
These are some of the ways which are practically possible in order to increase our concentration and maintain a healthy and a peaceful mind.
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