What does concentration mean?
The term concentration comes from the Latin word concentra (= together to the centre). In psychology, concentration is the intentional focusing of attention on a subject. This topic can be a goal or the solution of a task. The better or higher a concentration ability is, the longer a person is able to focus on this goal.
Where does lack of concentration come from?
Many factors influence how well someone can concentrate. The concentration span of children is often much shorter than that of adults. They react more quickly to sources of disturbance and also get tired more quickly.
Nevertheless, it also happens again and again to adults that they are unfocused. This can have many reasons, for example frustration, lack of motivation, several tasks/topics at one time (= overload), stress and fatigue, psychological problems or even the wrong attitude towards a topic.
Can you learn to concentrate?
You can't force concentration, but you can practice improving attention and extending attention spans. There are a number of simple tricks and exercises that everyone can use. Topics and tasks can be divided into small steps, so you achieve partial successes, which is motivating. One should not put oneself under pressure, but also allow for mistakes. It may help to change the order of tasks and perhaps start with a topic that is easy. To keep track of tasks: write them down and check them off. Take three steps in between, let your eyes wander sometimes and above all drink enough, eat healthy food and get enough sleep - the brain needs fluids and energy to function well.
Those who have serious concentration problems should consider professional concentration training or learning autogenic training.
External influences on concentration
The easiest way is to exclude or reduce external sources of disturbance as far as possible. This includes introducing a system on the desk, if possible fixed telephone times, e-mail times or visiting times, excluding noise or, if necessary, replacing lighting. Other decisive factors are sufficient breaks, fresh air and, last but not least, ergonomic office furniture. Because if you have to concern yourself with whether you are sitting correctly, comfortably or even pain-free at your desk or workstation, you cannot concentrate on the actual task.
Improve concentration with movement
It is well known that movement supplies the body with oxygen. A study conducted by the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz investigated the extent to which dynamic sitting on a Swopper from Aeris influences the ability to concentrate. As the study shows, sitting in motion promotes blood circulation and thus oxygen supply to a degree that measurably increases the Brain activity and measurably increases the ability to concentrate in the long term. Active sitting can have a significant positive influence on the ability to concentrate.
