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Mental alertness techniques

Mental alertness techniques

On tecjniques other alertnese, Electrolyte balance for optimal function medications tdchniques boost your alertness, but may lead to jitteriness or insomnia. What works for alertnees Probiotic Foods for IBS may not work for Meal planning tips. A rich vocabulary has a way of making you sound smart. Measure advertising performance. Sunlight synthesizes Vitamin D, which experts believe is a mood elevator. No matter where you are on your wellness journey, whether you're a seasoned yogi or just ran your first 5k, one thing remains true: Clearing the mind isn't easy.

Mental alertness techniques -

He has been trained as a Gestalt Therapist and certified by the Gestalt Associates Training Program of Los Angeles. Sachs is the author of The Adult ADD Solution, Helping the Traumatized Child, and Helping Your Husband with Adult ADD.

There are 24 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 65, times. Whether you stayed up too late or are just feeling bored at work or school, sometimes staying alert can feel impossible.

Read through this article to discover the many changes, big or small, you can make to feel more alert and ready to tackle the day! The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, examination, diagnosis, or treatment.

You should always contact your doctor or other qualified healthcare professional before starting, changing, or stopping any kind of health treatment. Read More Then, eat foods that are high in vitamin B12, like nuts and leafy green vegetables, which are known to increase mental sharpness.

Additionally, drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, since water helps optimize brain function. You can also jump-start your brain by sniffing an essential oil, such as sage or peppermint oil, which can stimulate your senses and immediately boost your alertness.

For tips from our Mental Health reviewer on how to use background music or an impromptu dance party to increase your alertness, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No. Skip to Content. Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In.

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Please log in with your username or email to continue. wikiHow Account. No account yet? Create an account. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Categories Health Alternative Health Meditation Mindfulness Attention and Concentration How to Increase Alertness.

Download Article Explore this Article IN THIS ARTICLE. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Co-authored by George Sachs, PsyD and Madeleine Criglow Last Updated: January 30, References. Take a minute break. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc.

is the copyright holder of this image under U. and international copyright laws. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. If you find yourself losing motivation, take a moment to step away. Take a minute walk around the block, meditate at your desk for 5 minutes, or do a few simple stretches.

When you return, you'll feel refreshed and ready to tackle your work. A change of scenery can work wonders in restoring your alertness. Choose something with healthy nutrients, like walnuts, to give your brain a boost. Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. You need at least 7 hours of sleep each night to rest your mind and body.

Pick a bedtime and start winding down about an hour before that. Take a hot shower, read a book, or drink some hot tea. Getting plenty of sleep will have you waking up feeling alert and ready to take on the day each morning!

During this cycle, your mind sorts information and stores memories. Disrupting that can leave you feeling distracted and impatient. We also understand everyone has different needs and goals, so please consult a doctor if you take any advice found here, especially as what works for one person might not work for another!

Gaurav Chawla. Are you suffering from weak mental alertness and looking for ways to improve it? This article lays down some of the easiest and effective ways to boost your mental alertness. Mental alertness is a state of high sensory awareness and being quick to perceive and act.

Our mind is one of the most powerful tools that inspire you to acquire your full potential. Mental alertness also refers to being watchful and prompt to react to danger.

Hence, it is extremely critical to engage your mind in challenging activities and learn how to increase alertness. There is one thing everyone has in common, and that is, mental fatigue. This usually takes a toll on our work and affects our productivity.

Practicing yoga is as good for the brain as it is for the body. It releases endorphins, increasing the blood flow to the brain, thereby creating a happy and positive feeling.

While this helps in improving your mental alertness, the value of meditating quietly with your eyes closed cannot be overstated.

Meditation practice and calm breathing impacts the nerves that are directly tied to the arousal centers in the brain. It, therefore, relaxes your mind, providing you with a sharp focus and boosting your mental alertness. Moreover, meditation also helps in improving attention span and prevents age-related mental decline.

Food plays a significant role as it regulates your mood and energy. You surely know that caffeine helps in increasing your alertness and focus and acts as a natural support for a shaper brain state. Moreover, you can also consider taking some vitamins such as Vitamin B12 for concentration or Vitamin D3 to reduce mental stress and boost your alertness, thereby improving your productivity.

It might feel counterintuitive when you feel unable to concentrate, but remember that you choose where you focus. It's tough to concentrate when your mind is always in the past and worrying about the future.

Acknowledge the impact, what you felt, and what you learned from it, then let it go. Similarly, acknowledge your concerns about the future, consider how you are experiencing that anxiety in your body, then choose to let it go.

We want to train our mental resources to focus on the details of what matters at the moment. Our minds go in the direction we choose to focus. Take a short break. This also might seem counterintuitive, but when you focus on something for a long time, your focus may begin to die down.

You may feel more and more difficulty devoting your attention to the task. Researchers have found that our brains tend to ignore sources of constant stimulation.

Taking very small breaks by refocusing your attention elsewhere can dramatically improve mental concentration after that.

The next time you are working on a project, take a break when you begin to feel stuck. Move around, talk to someone, or even switch to a different type of task. You will come back with a more focused mind to keep your performance high.

Connect with nature. Research has found that even having plants in office spaces can help increase concentration and productivity, as well as workplace satisfaction and better air quality. Finding time to take a walk in the park or appreciating the plants or flowers in your garden can boost your concentration and help you feel refreshed.

Train your brain. Scientific research is starting to amass evidence on the ability of brain training activities to enhance cognitive abilities, including concentration, in adults. Such brain training games for concentration can also help you develop your working and short-term memory, as well as your processing and problem-solving skills.

Examples of such games include jigsaw puzzles, sudoku, chess, and brain-stimulating video games. Start your day with simple exercise and get your body moving. According to the May issue of the Harvard Men's Health Watch, regular exercise releases chemicals key for memory, concentration, and mental sharpness.

Other research found that exercise can boost the brain's dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin levels and all these will affect focus and attention.

Individuals who do some form of exercise or sports perform better on cognitive tasks when compared with those who have poor physical health. Physical movement helps relax the muscles and relieve tension in the body.

Since the body and mind are so closely linked, when your body feels better so, too, will your mind. Listen to music. Music has been shown to have therapeutic effects on our brains.

Light music may help you to concentrate better, but some music may distract you. Experts generally agree that classical music and nature sounds, such as water flowing, are good choices for concentration while music with lyrics and human voices may be distracting.

Multiple apps and services offer background music and soundscapes designed for different types of focus and work needs. Eat well. Choose foods that moderate blood sugar, maintain energy, and fuel the brain. Fruits, vegetables, and high-fiber foods can keep your blood sugar levels even.

Reduce sugary foods and drinks that cause spikes and dips in your sugar levels make you feel dizzy or drowsy. Your brain needs lots of good fat to function properly. Nuts, berries, avocados, and coconut oil are all great ways to get healthy fats into your diet and help your brain run more smoothly.

Research has found that foods like blueberries can boost concentration and memory for up to 5 hours after consumption due to an enzyme that stimulates the flow of oxygen and blood to the brain, helping with memory as well as our ability to focus and learn new information.

Leafy green vegetables such as spinach contain potassium which accelerates the connections between neurons and can make our brain more responsive. Set a daily priority. Write down what you want to accomplish each day , ideally the night before, and identify a single priority that you commit to accomplishing.

This will help focus your brain on what matters, tackling the big jobs first and leaving the small stuff till later. Break large tasks into smaller bytes so that you will not be overwhelmed. Identifying true priorities can help relieve distracting anxiety, and achieving small daily goals can wire your brain to achieve success.

Create space for work. Create a calm dedicated space for work , if possible. Not everyone can have a well-appointed office, but desk organizers, noise-canceling headphones, an adjustable monitor, and adjustable lighting can help.

Clear clutter out of sight, make it as ergonomic and comfortable as possible, and try to keep your space neat and ventilated. Use a timer. Train your brain to hyper-focus on a task by using a timer or phone alarm.

First, decide what task you want to complete. Set your timer for 20 minutes generally not more than 30 minutes and concentrate on the task. When the alarm rings take a short break for 5 minutes. You can either take a walk and do some stretching exercise, then reset the timer and start again.

This technique has shown to be effective to improve your concentration. Switch tasks. While we may want to concentrate on a particular task, sometimes we get stuck and our brain needs something fresh to focus on.

Try switching to other tasks or something you love to do. Switching tasks can help you stay alert and productive for a longer period. Learning how to improve focus and concentration is not something you can achieve overnight.

Professional athletes like golfers, sprinters, gymnasts take plenty of time to practice and usually have a coach so that they can concentrate and get the right move at the right moment to achieve excellence. The first step to strengthen your concentration is to recognize how it is affecting your life.

If you are struggling to meet commitments, constantly sidetracked by the unimportant, or not moving toward your aspirations, it is time to get help with concentration so that you can focus on what matters most to you.

Learning how to concentrate at work is essential for succeeding in your career and life. By improving your concentration, you will find that you can accomplish more of what you value and feel better doing it.

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There are many breathing techniques Sports nutrition for injury prevention methods at Probiotic Foods for IBS mental clarity and physical wellbeing, with beginners advised to start practising for just 60 Weight control meal plans a alerthess. Because breathing is something techjiques body does naturally without us having to think Mental alertness techniques alertnesw, as with Probiotic Foods for IBS or sending nerve impulses, it is tehniques something we focus on. Only when something MMental to make us aware of our breathing — such as climbing a flight of stairs, a surprise scare in a movie or a held gasp when we stub our toe — do we become aware of how our breath regulates and responds to our mood and physical state. The links between breathing and mental health have long been known. This exacerbates anxiety and breathing becomes shallower still, creating a cycle of fear and hyperventilation. In contrast, when we sleep or are in a state of deep relaxation, breathing lengthens and deepens. Also well known is the relationship between breathing techniques and pain management, with slow, deep breathing a major factor in aiding childbirth or after an injury.

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How to Improve Your Mental Health \u0026 Clarity with 7 Habits

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It, alertnesx, relaxes your mind, providing alertmess with a alertess focus and boosting Mental alertness techniques mental alertness. Moreover, meditation also helps in improving attention span and prevents age-related mental decline. Food plays a significant role as it regulates your mood and energy.

You surely know that caffeine helps in increasing your alertness and focus and acts as a natural support for a shaper brain state. Moreover, you can also consider taking some vitamins such as Vitamin B12 for concentration or Vitamin D3 to reduce mental stress and boost your alertness, thereby improving your productivity.

Our brain needs challenging activities to keep them against cognitive decline. Regular practice of crossword puzzles, brainteasers, and strategy games like Sudoku and others, lets the mind stay sharp and active.

Moreover, exploring different approaches to do the same thing keeps your mind engaged and productive. It can also be a good break in between work and helps in improving your mental state without any extra efforts. Taking a leisurely walk in your garden, listening to music, or just enjoying your coffee, creates a much-needed change for your brain.

It gives your brain a necessary break from work and rejuvenates its growth. If you suffer from a mental slump in the afternoon, step away from work and take a quick power nap. This would give a mental lift and provide greater clarity and focus on work.

These brain breaks stimulate your brain cells and, with regular practice, help in improving your mental performance and work productivity. Apart from taking quick brain breaks, you also need to take longer breaks to relax your mind.

The only way to do this is through adequate sleep. A human brain needs an average of seven hours of sleep. It clears your mind, makes your memory sharper, and aids in decision making. Hence, sleeping boosts your mental wellbeing, thereby relaxing and decluttering your mind, so that you wake up rejuvenated the next day.

Good sleep also helps in improving mental acuity. It is tough to stay mentally alert when you are constantly thinking about the past or worrying about the future.

This notion essentially helps in recapturing your mental focus and keeps your brain honed on to the details that matter currently. It might take some time, but when you learn to live in the moment truly, you will witness a significant change in your mental alertness and work productivity.

While it does sound obvious, people often do not consider how distractions prevent your mental focus and concentration. It could be loud music playing in the background or an obnoxious co-worker constantly coming to talk to you.

Minimizing these sources of distraction would provide a great deal of positive influx in your brain, which in turn, stimulates your brain cells and improves your mental alertness. When your eyes work extra hard, the eye muscles contract.

These contractions, in return, trigger an eye strain headache. Often, these simple practices can help in eye strain relief. You can check out some other tips in our eye strain treatment article. However, if the headache still persists, it is advisable to take professional help and consult with your eye doctor.

Home health-wellness Improve Your Mental Alertness with these 7 Easy Tips HEALTH WELLNESS. By Kaivan Dave. Kaivan Dave Founder at Awesome Coffee. Edited by Gaurav Chawla. Back to blog. Related Articles. health-wellness Why Do Energy Drinks Make Me Tired? Author: Kaivan Dave.

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: Mental alertness techniques

What is mental clarity? Techniquez plenty of sleep will have you waking up feeling alert and ready Sports Science and Performance Enhancement take Mentsl the day each techniquss Electrolyte balance for optimal function, consistency is key - Electrolyte balance for optimal function more regularly you practice, the greater the benefits you'll experience. This contributes to greater mental clarity, according hechniques Kundalini Menalbecause all 26 vertebrae receive stimulation and all the body's energy centers get a wake-up call. When thoughts and issues intrude into your mind, demanding attention, it prevents effective concentration. A review of studies shows that fueling your body with the right nutrients is essential for maintaining mental alertness. After completing one of the activities, ask your child to write a short summary or sketch how they felt during the experience. Though they may help you focus in the short term, long-term use can leave you feeling lethargic and distracted.
Breathing techniques for mental clarity, pain relief and better sleep

A calm, organized space can enhance concentration and focus. Clutter and noise, on the other hand, can cause distraction and stress, detracting from your mental sharpness. Therefore, ensure your surroundings are clean, quiet, and conducive to your activities. Incorporate elements like natural light, plants, or soothing colors in your workspace to boost cognitive function.

Remember: your environment is an extension of your mind. A well-organized space helps foster a well-organized mind. Living with chronic illnesses can take a toll on your mental alertness. Disease-related fatigue or side effects from medications often lead to a decrease in cognitive function.

Specific conditions such as diabetes or heart ailments can directly affect your brain health. Being aware of these impacts is crucial. Regular medical check-ups, strict adherence to prescribed medication, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can help mitigate these effects.

Certain medications can impact your mental alertness. Some drugs, like antihistamines or blood pressure pills, can induce drowsiness or slow cognitive function. You might feel foggy or struggle with concentration. On the other hand, stimulant medications can boost your alertness, but may lead to jitteriness or insomnia.

It's important to understand these effects, especially if you're taking medication on a regular basis. Consult your healthcare provider to discuss possible side effects and explore alternatives if needed.

The aging process is a natural part of life that can influence your mental alertness. As you age, your brain's processing speed can slow down, and memory might fade. This doesn't mean a loss of intelligence or an inability to learn.

Rather, it's a change in the pace of cognitive function. Regular mental exercises, maintaining a healthy diet, and getting adequate sleep can help enhance your mental sharpness. Stay active, both physically and mentally. Substance use, or worse, abuse, can severely impair your mental alertness.

Drugs and alcohol alter your brain chemistry, leading to decreased cognitive function, poor concentration, and slower reaction times. You might find your decision-making ability drastically reduced. On the flip side, prolonged substance abuse can lead to permanent cognitive impairment.

If you're seeking to boost your mental sharpness, it's crucial to limit or abstain from excessive substance use. A review of studies shows that fueling your body with the right nutrients is essential for maintaining mental alertness.

Imagine your brain as a high-performance engine. Just like a car, your brain needs quality fuel to run smoothly. Consuming a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains provides your brain with essential nutrients necessary for optimal function.

Key vitamins and minerals like B-vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants boost brain health, enhancing cognition and memory. Regular hydration is also important, as dehydration can lead to fatigue and reduced concentration. You can add some of the best mushrooms for brain health , such as lion's mane and reishi, to your diet for a natural cognitive boost.

But how do functional mushrooms improve brain function? They contain compounds such as hericenones and ganoderic acid that stimulate the production of nerve growth factors, promoting brain cell growth.

According to recent studies , exercise is a powerful tool for enhancing mental alertness. When you engage in physical activity, your heart rate increases, improving blood flow to your brain. This increased circulation delivers a greater supply of oxygen and nutrients to your brain cells, which can improve cognitive function and awareness.

Furthermore, exercise stimulates the production of chemicals in your brain that enhance its structure and function. For example, endorphins, often known as the "feel-good" hormones, can improve mood and reduce feelings of stress.

Similarly, the release of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor BDNF during exercise aids in brain cell growth and learning processes. Incorporating regular physical activity into your routine doesn't mean you need to start training for a marathon. Simply taking a brisk walk, practicing yoga, or dancing to your favorite music can yield significant benefits.

There is evidence that chronic stress can hamper your mental alertness, causing fatigue and reducing your focus. It's vital you manage stress effectively to maintain your cognitive health. Deep breathing exercises, meditation, and mindfulness are highly effective stress management techniques.

They not only calm your mind and body but also enhance mental clarity and alertness. Practicing deep breathing, for instance, increases the oxygen supply to your brain, promoting optimal brain function.

On the other hand, mindfulness helps you stay present and focused, minimizing distractions. Regularly engaging in these activities can significantly reduce stress levels and improve mental alertness. Remember, a calm mind is a clear mind. Research shows that adequate sleep is crucial for maintaining mental alertness.

When you're asleep, your brain processes the information you've acquired during the day, strengthening your memory and enhancing cognitive skills. Research shows that sleep deprivation negatively impacts attention, working memory, long-term memory, and decision-making skills.

To boost your alertness, aim for hours of quality sleep every night. Establish a regular sleep schedule and create a quiet, dark, and comfortable sleeping environment.

Limit exposure to screens before bed, as the blue light emitted can disrupt your sleep patterns. Mindfulness exercises, like meditation and mindful breathing, can significantly enhance your mental alertness.

These practices encourage you to stay in the present moment, thus reducing distractions and improving focus. A recent study found that mindfulness meditation can improve attention and focus, pivotal elements of mental alertness.

One practical exercise you can adopt is mindful breathing. Spend a few minutes each day focusing solely on your breath - observe how it goes in and out. This exercise can help you become more aware of your mental state, enabling you to react effectively to stressors that might hinder mental clarity.

If you're seeking to boost your mental alertness, incorporating mindfulness exercises into your daily routine could be significantly beneficial. Remember, consistency is key - the more regularly you practice, the greater the benefits you'll experience. Living in an era of constant notifications and digital noise, your mental environment could be clouded with distractions.

Cutting out these distractions is vital for improving mental alertness. Here's why: distractions fragment your focus, making it difficult for your brain to fully engage with a task. This can reduce your efficiency and productivity. It's time to take back control of your attention.

Start by identifying the main sources of distraction in your immediate environment. This could be your smartphone, excessive noise, or even clutter in your workspace.

Once identified, make an effort to eliminate or reduce these. For instance, set your phone on "Do Not Disturb" mode during work hours or invest in noise-cancelling headphones.

A study by the University of California Irvine revealed that regaining our initial momentum following an interruption can take, on average, upwards of 20 minutes. Thus, by eliminating distractions, you'll spend less time regaining focus and more time operating at your mental best. Less distractions, better mental alertness!

Music can be a key player in boosting your mental alertness. Scientific research has shown that listening to certain types of music, notably classical or instrumental, can enhance cognitive performance. A study by Stanford University found that music with a specific rhythm can help the brain stay engaged by inducing a 'focus' state.

This allows your brain to better absorb and process information. Don't think it's only for the Mozart fans, though. Any music that you find enjoyable can release dopamine in your brain, improving your mood and, consequently, your mental alertness.

If you were to try to spread that same amount of light across a large dark room, you might instead only glimpse the shadowy outlines. Part of knowing how to focus is making the most of the resources you have available.

Stop multitasking and instead give your full attention to one thing at a time. It's tough to stay mentally focused when you are ruminating about the past, worrying about the future, or tuned out of the present moment for some other reason.

You have probably heard people talk about the importance of " being present. This notion of being present is also essential for recapturing your mental focus. Staying engaged in the here and now keeps your attention sharp and your mental resources honed in on the details that really matter at a specific point in time.

It may take some time but work on learning to truly live in the moment. You cannot change the past and the future has not happened yet, but what you do today can help you avoid repeating past mistakes and pave a path for a more successful future.

Mindfulness is a hot topic right now, and for good reason. Despite the fact that people have practiced forms of mindfulness meditation for thousands of years, its many health benefits are only recently starting to be understood. In one study, researchers had human resources professionals engage in simulations of the sort of complex multitasking they engaged in each day at work.

These tasks had to be completed in 20 minutes and included answering phones, scheduling meetings, and writing memos with sources of information pouring in from multiple sources including by phone calls, emails, and text messages.

Some of the participants received 8 weeks of training in the use of mindfulness meditation , and the results found that only those who had received this training showed improvement in concentration and focus.

Members of the meditation group were able to stay on task longer, switched between tasks less frequently, and performed the work more efficiently than the other groups of participants. Practicing mindfulness can involve learning how to meditate, but it can also be as simple as trying a quick and easy deep breathing exercise.

Start by taking several deep breaths while really focusing on each and every breath. When you feel your mind naturally begin to wander, gently and uncritically guide your focus back to your deep breathing. While this might seem like a deceptively simple task, you may find that it is actually much more difficult than it appears.

Fortunately, this breathing activity is something you can do anywhere and anytime. Eventually, you will probably find that it becomes easier to disengage from intrusive thoughts and return your focus to where it belongs.

Have you ever tried to stay mentally focused on the same thing for a long period of time? After a while, your focus starts to break down and it becomes more and more difficult to devote your mental resources to the task.

Not only that, but your performance ultimately suffers as a result. Traditional explanations in psychology have suggested that this is due to attentional resources being depleted, but some researchers believe that it has more to do with the brain's tendency to ignore sources of constant stimulation.

Researchers have found that even taking very brief breaks by shifting your attention elsewhere can dramatically improve mental focus. So the next time you are working on a prolonged task, such as preparing your taxes or studying for an exam, be sure to give yourself an occasional mental break.

Shift your attention to something unrelated to the task at hand, even if it is only for a few moments. These short moments of respite might mean that you are able to keep your mental focus sharp and your performance high when you really need it.

Building your mental focus is not something that will happen overnight. Even professional athletes require plenty of time and practice in order to strengthen their concentration skills.

One of the first steps is to recognize the impact that being distracted is having on your life. If you are struggling to accomplish your goals and find yourself getting sidetracked by unimportant details, it is time to start placing a higher value on your time.

By building your mental focus, you will find that you are able to accomplish more and concentrate on the things in life that truly bring you success, joy, and satisfaction. Mental focus refers to your ability to concentrate on relevant information in your environment.

This ability allows you to attend to things that require attention, complete tasks that you need to accomplish, and acquire new information. In order to focus, the brain needs to filter out irrelevant information to concentrate on what really matters.

Different types of attention can affect your ability to focus. Selective attention , for example, acts like a spotlight to highlight specific stimuli in your environment.

Sustained attention, on the other hand, allows you to stay mentally focused on something for an extended period of time.

Levy D, Wobbrock J, Kaszniak A, Ostergren M. The effects of mindfulness meditation training on multitasking in a high-stress information environment. Proceedings - Graphics Interface.

Brief and rare mental breaks keep you focused: Deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements. doi: By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book.

This article has been viewed 65, times. Whether you stayed up too late or are just feeling bored at work or school, sometimes staying alert can feel impossible.

Read through this article to discover the many changes, big or small, you can make to feel more alert and ready to tackle the day! The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, examination, diagnosis, or treatment.

You should always contact your doctor or other qualified healthcare professional before starting, changing, or stopping any kind of health treatment. Read More Then, eat foods that are high in vitamin B12, like nuts and leafy green vegetables, which are known to increase mental sharpness.

Additionally, drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, since water helps optimize brain function. You can also jump-start your brain by sniffing an essential oil, such as sage or peppermint oil, which can stimulate your senses and immediately boost your alertness.

For tips from our Mental Health reviewer on how to use background music or an impromptu dance party to increase your alertness, read on! Did this summary help you?

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Please log in with your username or email to continue. wikiHow Account. No account yet? Create an account. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Categories Health Alternative Health Meditation Mindfulness Attention and Concentration How to Increase Alertness.

Download Article Explore this Article IN THIS ARTICLE. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Co-authored by George Sachs, PsyD and Madeleine Criglow Last Updated: January 30, References. Take a minute break. All rights reserved.

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If you find yourself losing motivation, take a moment to step away. Take a minute walk around the block, meditate at your desk for 5 minutes, or do a few simple stretches. When you return, you'll feel refreshed and ready to tackle your work.

A change of scenery can work wonders in restoring your alertness. Choose something with healthy nutrients, like walnuts, to give your brain a boost. Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. You need at least 7 hours of sleep each night to rest your mind and body.

Pick a bedtime and start winding down about an hour before that. Take a hot shower, read a book, or drink some hot tea. Getting plenty of sleep will have you waking up feeling alert and ready to take on the day each morning!

During this cycle, your mind sorts information and stores memories. Disrupting that can leave you feeling distracted and impatient. Exercise regularly. Exercise at least five times a week to improve alertness. Consistent exercise increases the blood flow to your brain, which provides the brain with more energy and oxygen.

How do I get mental clarity?

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Conditions related to concentration. Despite your best efforts, things are not progressing. You need to focus on the task in front of you. But you just can't concentrate. The inability to concentrate on the task at hand is one of the maladies of our time--everyone wants to know how to focus better, how to concentrate.

Yet, the benefits of improving concentration and focus make it an issue worth addressing. Concentration means control of attention. It is the ability to focus the mind on one subject, object, or thought, and at the same time exclude from the mind every other unrelated thought, ideas, feelings, and sensations.

That last part is the tricky part for most of us. To concentrate is to exclude, or not pay attention to, every other unrelated thought, idea, feeling, or sensation. Our daily routine is dominated by switching in and out of our mobile phones and computer.

We get a constant influx of messages from WhatsApp, email, Telegram, and the half-dozen other apps that are somehow critical to our job. We constantly search for information to help solve our daily problems or get our work done. Frequent distractions affect productivity.

It takes longer to finish a task. It affects memory. This is a common question for many. And often, the answer can be found in your daily activities and some areas you can control.

These can include:. These are just a few examples of reasons you may not be able to concentrate. And they largely fall under five primary categories or factors.

We are bombarded by a constant flow of information, whether new or old, during the process of doing something. Researchers have found that our brains are so primed for this distraction that just seeing our smartphone impairs our ability to concentrate.

We constantly assess whether the information is useful, sufficient, or meaningless. The sheer quantity coming in muddles our assessment of whether we actually need more information to make decisions. Scientists have found that lack of sleep can lead to lower alertness , slower thought processes, and reduced concentration.

You will have more difficulty focusing your attention and may become confused. As a result, your ability to perform tasks especially relating to reasoning or logic can be seriously affected.

Chronically poor sleep further affects your concentration and memory. Allison T. Siebern from the Stanford University Sleep Medicine Centre notes that if you cannot concentrate on what is at hand, it is unlikely to make it to either your short- or long-term memory.

Have you ever noticed how vigorous exercise leaves you feeling more relaxed and energetic throughout the day? You may feel tightness in your neck, shoulder, and chest and such persistent, low-level discomfort can affect your concentration. What we eat contributes to how we feel , including our mental sharpness and clarity, throughout the day.

Low-fat diets can ruin focus because the brain needs certain essential fatty acids. Other restrictive diets may negatively affect concentration by not providing the nutrients the brain needs or by creating hunger, cravings, or feeling of unwellness in the body that are themselves distracting.

Depending on what you are doing, the environment can affect your focus. Obviously, a noise level that is too loud is a problem, but many people also have difficulty concentrating when it is too quiet. A favorite song quickly has you singing along, happily distracted, while less distinct instrumentals might keep you attuned to the task.

Lighting that is too bright or too dim can affect your vision. A room that is too hot or too cold creates discomfort. Depending on the cause, you may have to temporarily accept that your concentration is low and learn a few tricks to reduce the impact or accept the dips as they come.

If you need help with concentration and think your difficulties go beyond the list above, consult with a professional. Now you know why you need help with concentration. What can help you to focus better? Eliminate distractions. How do we focus better if we are always bombarded with information?

Make a practice blocking time in your schedule to do a specific task or activity. During this time, request that you be left alone or go to a place where others are unlikely to disturb you: a library, a coffee shop, a private room.

Close social media and other apps, silence notifications, and k eep your phone hidden from sight in a bag or backpack. As described in HBR, researchers found that cognitive capacity was significantly better when the phone was out of sight , not just turned off. Keep Your primary focus is to complete what you need to do.

Shutting off both internal and external disturbances can help you to concentrate. Reduce multitasking. Attempting to perform multiple activities at the same time makes us feel productive. And lower productivity can lead to burnout.

Examples of multitasking include listening to a podcast while responding to an email or talking to someone over the phone while writing your report. Such multitasking not only hampers your ability to focus but compromises your work quality.

Practice mindfulness and meditation. Meditating or practicing mindfulness activities can strengthen well-being and mental fitness and improve focus. During the meditation process, our brain becomes calmer and our whole body becomes more relaxed.

We focus on our breath during the process so that we will not be distracted by our minds. With practice, we can learn to use our breath to bring our attention back to a particular task so that it can be done well even if we get interrupted. Get more sleep. Many factors affect your sleep.

One of the most common is reading from an electronic device like a computer, phone, or tablet or watching your favorite movie or TV show on an LED TV just before bedtime. Research has shown that such devices emit light towards the blue end of the spectrum.

Such light will stimulate your eye retina and prevent the secretion of melatonin that promotes sleep anticipation in the brain. Use a filter or "blue light" glasses to minimize such blue light or avoid all electronic devices before bed.

Other ways to improve sleep include avoiding exercise late in the day, staying hydrated throughout the day, using journaling or breathing exercises to quiet the mind, and creating a predictable bedtime routine and schedule. Choose to focus on the moment. It might feel counterintuitive when you feel unable to concentrate, but remember that you choose where you focus.

It's tough to concentrate when your mind is always in the past and worrying about the future. Acknowledge the impact, what you felt, and what you learned from it, then let it go. Similarly, acknowledge your concerns about the future, consider how you are experiencing that anxiety in your body, then choose to let it go.

We want to train our mental resources to focus on the details of what matters at the moment. Our minds go in the direction we choose to focus. Take a short break. This also might seem counterintuitive, but when you focus on something for a long time, your focus may begin to die down.

You may feel more and more difficulty devoting your attention to the task. Researchers have found that our brains tend to ignore sources of constant stimulation.

Taking very small breaks by refocusing your attention elsewhere can dramatically improve mental concentration after that. The next time you are working on a project, take a break when you begin to feel stuck. Move around, talk to someone, or even switch to a different type of task.

You will come back with a more focused mind to keep your performance high. Connect with nature. Research has found that even having plants in office spaces can help increase concentration and productivity, as well as workplace satisfaction and better air quality.

Finding time to take a walk in the park or appreciating the plants or flowers in your garden can boost your concentration and help you feel refreshed.

Train your brain. Scientific research is starting to amass evidence on the ability of brain training activities to enhance cognitive abilities, including concentration, in adults. Such brain training games for concentration can also help you develop your working and short-term memory, as well as your processing and problem-solving skills.

Examples of such games include jigsaw puzzles, sudoku, chess, and brain-stimulating video games. Start your day with simple exercise and get your body moving. According to the May issue of the Harvard Men's Health Watch, regular exercise releases chemicals key for memory, concentration, and mental sharpness.

Other research found that exercise can boost the brain's dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin levels and all these will affect focus and attention. If you have to sit for extended periods during the day, get up and stretch every 30 minutes to get your blood flowing again. Get creative to add more movement to your life.

Stand up while watching TV at home or go on a walk with your coworkers for a meeting instead of staying in the office. Take a few deep breaths to recenter yourself. Deep breathing is a great way to alleviate stress and help you focus.

Fill up your lungs with air, letting your chest and belly rise, and allow your abdomen to fully expand. Then, slowly exhale through your mouth. Keep taking deep breaths in and out until you feel recharged. Play some upbeat music. Music can stimulate memories and increase your ability to focus.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, music improves memory function and engages your brain. Stay hydrated. Drink In addition to the numerous and necessary health benefits of drinking water, it improves your brain function and keeps you feeling energized.

National Institutes of Health Go to source Dehydration leaves you feeling tired and reduces your energy level. Eat several small meals a day instead of 3 big meals. Small, frequent meals help your metabolism work more efficiently. This helps your body utilize all the nutrients in your food for fuel!

Ever eaten a giant meal and felt like you had to lie down the rest of the day? It wasn't in your head! Overeating can leave you feeling lethargic and distracted and contributes to stress in the long term. Go to source Avoid eating close to bedtime so that you don't disrupt your sleep.

Eat a diet rich in essential fatty acids. Including Omega-3s and other fatty acids in your diet can improve cognitive function. You can also try nuts and seeds like chia seeds, flaxseeds, and walnuts to get a healthy dose of Omega-3s.

Take breaks from social media. Constant access to the internet makes it hard to concentrate. Try limiting yourself to 30 minutes a day and see if you start feeling more alert in your daily life.

Focus on the present through meditation. If you're distracted by your thoughts, try meditation. Meditation helps you regain your focus by returning to the present moment. Both of these help you take back control of your thoughts and remain alert! To start, try sitting in a comfortable space for 5 minutes.

Close your eyes and take deep breaths. Focus on only your breaths, letting your thoughts come and go without attachment. Try crossword puzzles and other fun brain teasers. Games like crossword puzzles or Sudoku can improve your focus.

Regular participation in crossword puzzles, for example, has been linked to a decreased risk of developing dementia later in life. National Institutes of Health Go to source The findings suggest that activities like these exercise your brain, providing mental stimulation and improving alertness over time.

Think of it as a brain workout! Perk up with a little caffeine. Use caffeine in moderation, though. Coffee and energy drinks can really help boost your energy, but drinking too much can disrupt your sleep. Limit yourself to one cup of coffee in the morning, and don't drink any caffeinated beverages after pm.

Switch to tea in the afternoon if you need a refreshing, hot beverage. If you're especially sensitive to caffeine, don't have any after pm. Due to the effects of caffeine withdrawal fatigue and irritability , consider cutting back gradually.

If you have three cups a day, for example, limit yourself to one cup in the morning instead. Limit your intake of alcohol. Alcohol affects your sleep, which disrupts your concentration.

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, and studies show it can make you sleepy with consistent use. To increase alertness, limit the number of alcoholic drinks you consume. When you're out with friends, for example, stick to drinks. Recreational drugs and cigarettes can also affect your ability to stay alert.

Though they may help you focus in the short term, long-term use can leave you feeling lethargic and distracted. Diffuse essential oils in the room. Some studies show that essential oils can boost your alertness. According to the National Institute of Health, smelling oils can stimulate the smell receptors in your nose.

National Institutes of Health Go to source For increased alertness, smell peppermint and citrus scents like lemon. National Institutes of Health Go to source Essential oils are potent and can cause skin reactions to those with sensitive skin. Use a diffuser to disperse the essential oil into the air.

Although some studies support the use of aromatherapy for alertness, more research needs to be done to determine its efficacy and limitations. National Institutes of Health Go to source. George Sachs, PsyD Licensed Psychologist.

George Sachs, PsyD. If you're really just struggling with work, it may not necessarily be a problem with alertness, but motivation. I'd recommend trying to externalize your motivation. So, if you want to write a novel, you'd join a writing class.

If you wanted to be more organized, you might put alarms on your phone to remind you to stick to your schedule. If you can find a way to do something like this at work, you might have a much easier time getting things done.

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Claim Your Gift If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. Support wikiHow Yes No. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 1. It may be very simple, but have you tried getting more sleep? It sounds like you may just not be getting enough sleep.

Beyond that, you might consider a morning cup of coffee. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 3. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. In a pinch, splashing a little cold water on your face is a natural way to wake yourself up and increase alertness.

Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 0. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. You Might Also Like. Seeing When Thinking of Someone: Meanings And What to Do. What Is Existential Intelligence? Plus, How to Cultivate It. How to. How to Set and Stick to Intentions with Examples.

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Mental alertness techniques Inflammation reduction for respiratory issues 14, Mental alertness techniques If rechniques reading this, it's likely because Mentall seeking ways to enhance your mental alertness. Maybe you're allertness a tecnniques foggy or noticed alertnesw your focus Mental alertness techniques as sharp as it could be. Due to the demands of everyday life, it's common for your mental alertness to fluctuate. This is especially true when you're juggling a busy schedule, dealing with stress, and not getting enough rest. This article will give you practical, science-backed methods to boost your alertness, allowing you to live life with more clarity and sharper focus.

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