Why You Focus

It’s no accident that you concentrate best when you’re really engaging in something, like watching a good movie, or doing something challenging, like learning a new card game. Concentration occurs when the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which controls high-level cognitive tasks, is awash with the right cocktail of neurotransmitters, hormones, and other body chemicals, particularly the “pleasure chemical” dopamine (you get a jolt of this when you eat delicious food, have sex, or encounter something new and exciting). “When dopamine levels rise, you subconsciously want more of the good feeling it gives you, so you’re driven to concentrate on whatever you’re doing to keep getting it,” says Lucy Jo Palladino, Ph.D., a psychologist and the author of Find Your Focus Zone (Free Press, $25, www.amazon.com). But when your attention starts to falter, your dopamine levels drop and you start looking for a new, pleasurable distraction to replace that dopamine hit.

Need one now? This mental exercise improves focus by challenging your brainpower. Take a piece of paper and two pens and sit at a table. Draw a circle with one hand and, at the same time, draw two squares with the other while tracing a circle on the floor with one foot. Not so easy — but are you feeling more focused? Read on.

Why You Lose Focus

It’s not only online shopping that keeps you from getting your bills paid. All of us can feel distracted when we’re at the mercy of internal factors, like fatigue, stress, and anger, and external factors, like television and e-mail. Here are the most common attention zappers. Identify yours and learn how to regain your focus.

1. Lack of Sleep
When you’re tired, you’re deprived of oxygen, which is necessary for the production of chemicals, such as dopamine and adrenaline, in the prefrontal cortex. Even one night of tossing and turning can “give you symptoms that resemble ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), such as forgetfulness and difficulty maintaining concentration,” says Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D., director of the Chesapeake ADHD Center of Maryland, in Annapolis.

How to Regain Your Focus

Get a good night’s sleep. “A good night’s sleep is like pushing the reset button in your brain,” says Edward Hallowell, M.D., author of CrazyBusy (Ballantine, $16, www.amazon.com). You should try to get the amount of sleep required for you to wake up without an alarm.

Have a snack. If you’re running on fumes and about to head into a marathon meeting, drink a glass of water and eat a snack with a balance of carbohydrates, fat, and protein, like an apple and a piece of cheese, recommends Hallowell. “This hydrates you and keeps your blood sugar levels even, both of which aid focus,” he says. And try to skip the double espresso. “Caffeine raises your adrenaline, giving you a quick burst of focus,” says Hallowell. “But if you overdo it, you’ll get the jitters, diminishing your concentration.”

Drifting off? Read the next section aloud. According to Judith Greenbaum, Ph.D., a coach for people with ADHD and a coauthor of Finding Your Focus (McGraw-Hill, $17, www.amazon.com), using more than one sense (for example, seeing and hearing words) sharpens concentration.