Increase Attention Span: Tips and Strategies for Better Focus

The length of time you manage to stay focused on an activity or object is considered your attention span.

While short attention spans are typically associated with children, the reality is that many adults struggle with attention deficits too. On average, individuals are thought to hold an attention span of just 14 minutes. Individuals check their phones as often as 150 times a day, which is every six to seven minutes of their waking lives. University students have been found to give in to distractions such as social media or texting a mere five minutes into studying. While it’s not unusual to have your mind wander when you should be concentrating on something else, attention spans are at an all-time low.

Just how low they sink depends on the task at hand. A neighbor complaining about a stranger, for example, may not hold your attention as long as a circle of friends talking about their latest news or a gripping action movie.

There are, however, a few measures that can be taken to help improve diminishing concentration.

Why Do We Lose Attention?

In the same way, it is necessary to seek out food and water, the brain is designed to be on the lookout for new information. And just as the body is satisfied with the primitive rewards of eating and drinking, the mind is rewarded by the dopamine system for information-seeking behavior.

This positive reinforcement of discovering novel information means humans are far better at giving in to distractions than they are at completing tasks. From an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense: it was more important to realize there was a wild animal nearby than it was to continue with the activity at hand.

Why Are Attention Levels at an All-Time Low?

In today’s fast-paced society, we are overwhelmed with offers of convenience and instant gratification that hinder our ability to stay focused. Constant distractions and the temptation to seek out immediate satisfaction through online shopping or social media constantly bombard us, with attention spans shortening as a result.

Studies of grey matter show that tuning out things that may distract you is also taxing on the brain – it is not a passive process. So not only do you have the challenge of giving enough attention to the task in front of you, but the brain has to extend resources to cancel out the many annoying or tempting distractions around you too.

Chronic stress levels are also soaring, putting us on high alert for threats. Our tendency to seek out new information therefore increases, resulting in loss of focus and decreased attention spans.

Other Causes of Short Attention Spans

A short attention span may sometimes be the result of an underlying physical or mental health condition.

ADHD is a common disorder that is most often recognized in childhood and lasts into adulthood. Those with ADHD typically have difficulty paying attention and controlling their impulses.

Individuals suffering from depression experience persistent feelings of sadness and loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed. Along with these, struggling to concentrate and hold attention is a common symptom of depression.

Attention issues are also amongst the most common symptoms in individuals after sustaining a brain injury, from mild bumps and concussions to traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Children and adults with learning disabilities such as dyslexia may have difficulty paying attention alongside their issues with basic learning skills, such as reading or spelling.

Poor diet, lack of exercise, autism spectrum disorder and head injuries can also impact an individual’s ability to concentrate.

Skills Needed to Increase Attention

The ability to lengthen one’s attention span is often correlated with specific skills. The first is your ability to handle boredom, restlessness and other uncomfortable emotions that give you the urgent need to switch tasks. This is closely connected to the second aspect of longer attention spans- patience. Practicing more patience can help prevent boredom, and allows you to sit with a slower pace or more subtlety without craving a quicker or more elevated experience. The ability to take an interest in anything is the third aspect of a longer attention span. The more interest you can show in particular tasks, the longer it will be able to hold your attention.

Benefits to Improving Attention Span

Many people think of their attention span concerning their work or study performance. In reality, the ability to hold your attention affects many areas of your life, from work/life balance and achieving goals to improving friendships and romantic relationships, as well as having more control over your mental and emotional well-being.

When you increase your attention span, you work more effectively in less time, as well as generally support your memory and problem-solving skills which impact all areas of your life. Holding your attention for longer allows you to stay engaged in interactions with friends or romantic partners, contributing to better relationships. When you increase your attention span, you are also able to dedicate more time to your hobbies, boosting proficiency and feelings of satisfaction. The inability to hold attention has also been correlated with anxiety disorders, where more attentional control may assist in the limiting of certain thoughts that contribute to anxiety, helping you to feel better overall.

Instant Strategies to Increase Attention Span

Drink Water

Drinking enough water is critical for your mind and body. Dehydration can worsen your ability to think, including mild dehydration that you may not notice. Dehydration for as little as two hours can negatively affect your ability to focus, so ensure you are drinking plenty of water throughout the day if you are exploring how to increase your attention span.

Chew Gum

Chewing gum appears to improve attention and performance, increase alertness and lower stress – at least in the short term. Rather than the gum itself, the act of chewing produces “mastication-induced arousal”, sending more oxygen to the brain that wakes us up and ensures we are fully focused on the task at hand.

Stay Actively Engaged

If you are struggling to pay attention during lectures or meetings, stay actively engaged by asking questions or taking notes. This helps you keep your mind on the present activity versus allowing it to drift. Jotting down notes during an enjoyable podcast could also keep you more present than simply listening. Taking notes by hand is more effective at increasing attention span than using a laptop or other device, which can provide additional distractions.

Remove Distractions

Our brains use precious resources to resist distractions when trying to stay focused. If you are working on how to increase your attention span, an easy strategy is to remove any possible distractions that may serve as obstacles between you and your concentration. Smartphones are an obvious distraction and can interfere with concentration simply by being in the room, even if on silent.

Batch Check Notifications

Keeping your phone and laptop notifications on silent or disabling them together allows you to check them on your terms. If possible, try batch-checking your emails, texts or social media notifications in allotted slots. Even if you need many slots in one day, it is likely to beat the on-demand checking we usually do every few minutes and buy you more uninterrupted time to increase your attention span.

Strategies to Increase Attention Span Over Time

Extend Time Between Breaks

Many breaks are good for refreshing your concentration between tasks. But if you are exploring how to increase your attention span, you can work to extend the time taken between breaks to slowly lengthen your focus in one sitting.

Do More of What You Do Best

Most individuals naturally have a few activities that fully absorb their concentration e.g. drawing, putting together a piece of furniture, finishing a crossword or building a puzzle. These instances where you feel productive, focused and “in the zone” are known as flow states. Practicing those tasks wherever you can and naturally staying focused for extended periods helps increase attention span overall. When considering how to increase your attention span, you can try working on one of these tasks for 30 minutes and then switching to the activity that requires your attention. This will help you stay in a flow state as you work.

Seek Out Flow State Activities

If you’re not sure what naturally absorbs your attention, there are a few characteristics of activities that may induce a flow state. One of those is high consequences that pose a physical, mental or social risk (e.g. surfing, karaoke or engaging in sensational or vulnerable topics of conversation). Another is engaging in multiple sensory streams at once (e.g. playing a team sport or a dance class with a partner). Activities characterized by a stimulating environment offering complexity, novelty or unpredictability could also induce a flow state (e.g. an immersive art exhibition or live concert), as could particularly creative exercises that require out-the-box thinking, such as brainstorming or problem-solving. Seek out activities that offer one or more of these characteristics if you are exploring how to increase your attention span and want to spend more time in a flow state.

Practice Active Listening

While listening requires us to be silent, it is not a passive act. Failing to listen properly is often a sign of a short attention span. We can improve our listening skills and therefore our focus by practicing active listening.

Rather than thinking about what you’re going to say next, focus intently on what the speaker is saying. This leads to more pauses as you contemplate your answer and more thoughtful responses. Building your empathy in conversation also helps hone your focus and keep your mind in the present. This involves constantly imagining yourself in the person’s position to better understand how they would be feeling, using phrases such as, “If I were you, I imagine I’d be feeling…” You could also try reflective listening, where you reflect sentiments that are shared with you in your own words. This requires you to listen attentively to ensure you have understood, encouraging the brain to focus a little harder than it normally would.

Get Moving

The benefits of exercise extend to all areas of our wellbeing, including our cognitive function and therefore attention span. Exercise has been shown to help improve attention and focus particularly in those with attention deficits, such as people with ADHD. This could include activities as simple as a brisk 30-minute walk taken four or five times a week.

Build Your Meditation Practice

Mindfulness and meditation are highly regarded as a method to improve mental health and function. If you are considering how to improve your attention span, evidence suggests meditation can increase focus, with continued meditation potentially improving sustained attention over time. Building upon a meditation practice by starting with two minutes each day at a time and leading up to 10 minutes or more can similarly help increase attention span incrementally.

Try Extreme Temperatures

Recent trends are giving more attention to age-old practices such as cold plunges and saunas. Part of increasing attention span has to do with improving one’s ability to stay with unpleasant feelings. Cold exposure is thought to stimulate the vagus nerve, which can help to both increase attention span and combat depression. If you don’t have access to a cold pool or plunge, try running a cold bath – even adding ice to it – and see if you can sit in it for two minutes while taking deep breaths. Increase this length over time.

Saunas can help increase levels of two hormones: norepinephrine, which increases focus and helps increase attention span, and prolactin, which helps repair nerve cell damage and improve brain function. Endorphins in the body get a significant boost as well, due to heat stress induced by the sauna. Beginners should start with 5-10 minutes, while more seasoned sauna goers should aim for 15-20 minutes in one sitting.

Listen to Music with Your Eyes Closed

Music is a stimulus that may help or hinder when it comes to concentration. Ambient music is discussed more here, but music can also be used front and centre as a tool to increase attention span. Try listening to music with your eyes closed, starting with one song and focusing on the lyrics and tune rather than letting your mind wander. Increase to more songs daily over a week or more. This will help to improve the length of time you can give your uninterrupted focus on the task at hand.

Work Hard, Play Hard

Concentration can be thought of as a muscle when considering how to increase attention span. Strengthening it requires full exertion followed by total rest. Too much exertion results in burnout, while too little rest equals inadequate recovery. If you are exploring how to improve your attention span, breaking up your time into periods of complete focus followed by dedicated rest can help: knowing there is an upcoming break can help incentivize you to sustain concentration and resist distractions. If preoccupying thoughts or ideas arise during the work block that you don’t want to forget, try jotting them down in a notebook to address later. Periods of full rest could include a 15-minute nap, gazing out the window or engaging in casual conversation.

An inability to concentrate despite the motivation to complete tasks is a common occurrence in modern life. Recognizing the influence poor concentration has on your day-to-day can determine the effort you need to give to improve your attention span. This is an ongoing practice that can be cumulatively built upon over time, allowing you to accomplish more of what’s important to you and simultaneously feel better and more efficient while doing it.