Improve Concentration

Improve Concentration

Chocolate tells the brain that something fun is going to happen!

So your thesis is sitting there in front of you, begging for improved concentration, and you have no idea about what to do other than grit your teeth, and began the hard labor of writing?

Believe it or not, that grit your teeth and bear down effort will actually make good, effective flowing concentration less possible, if not impossible.

It is relaxation that opens the higher perceptual centers of the brain for improved concentration.

As counter intuitive as it might sound, learn how to relax and stay relaxed to concentrate effectively, and a good way to do that is using Heartmath or heart rate variability biofeedback.

Heartmath is a wonderful biofeedback tool that will teach you to access your heart's affiliative and cooperative intelligence, and when you learn how to cue heart rate variability coherence, you will be in a perfect physiology for improved concentration, and if you find yourself losing your focus, you simply return to your heart rate variability biofeedback process and your heart will bring you back to your concentration physiology right away.

So lapses in concentration may last only a heart beat or two.

Heartmath is actually only a part of the improve concentration process.

There are a number of excellent computerized tools available to train those new neurons in your concentration circuits.

Didn't know you had new neurons daily? Yes, you do, and you get to keep them if you do not make them endure unnecessary stress hormones, or booze, or appetite stimulants like msg.

In fact those neurons move to your hippocampus which is an important part of the memory system in the brain, but the name of the computerized tool that trains concentration and focus and even has the side effect of increasing IQ is the Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro, which is based on the dual n back task.

The Mind Sparke will frustrate you for a bit until you get the hang of it, and then you will want to practice early and often.

Mind Sparke will quickly teach you how fast your attention wanders.

And if you want to read the research on dual n back, the PNAS study will give you the research picture.

I also enjoyed what Simon Evans,Ph.D. and Paul Burghardt,Ph.D. had to say about the dual n back task in the really neat e-book called Brainfit for Life. Evans and Burghardt are neuroscientists at the University of Michigan, who thankfully write for the layperson. They have culled the neuroscientific research to tease out ideas for us to use to maintain brain fitness across the life span.

In fact, the book is really about the idea that we can take care of the brain and our concentration by attending to the pillars of brain fitness, which are physical exercise, nutrition including antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acid, good sleep, stress management (Heartmath), and novel learning experience, which is where they discuss the benefits of the dual n back program.

If you are ready to give improving your concentration a go, than go here for the Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro and the Heartmath link is just below.

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