7 Tried and Tested Ways to Improve Your Focus and Memory!
Practice these short and effective methods everyday to see shocking results FAST!
While studying for A levels I knew that memory and stamina was important. Like every normal human being I went to Google search ways to improve memory and to stay focused for a long period of time. Below is what I’ve tried out of the many google search outcomes. In this thread, I’ll be commenting on their effectiveness on me.
1) Having a routine
Stamina has to be trained. One of the simplest way to train your stamina is to continuously do the same thing and challenging your limits time and time again. Imagine training to run faster, if you run everyday like most runners your run time will definitely shorten and the distance you can run over time will slowly increase. Similarly your stamina will increase too.
If you practice this routine for 27 days consecutively, according to the book Atomic Habits by James Clear it will develop into a habit.
a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.
Over an even longer period of time, this habit will become subconscious and the effort required for you to bring yourself to carry out this routine will decrease. Allowing you to focus on studying and increasing the time it takes for you to feel tired from studying.
Here’s an illustration:
Take activation energy to be energy needed for one to start focusing and studying
2) Sleep
Sleeping 7-8 hours a day at a regular time improves your quality of sleep and has been proven to increase one’s attention span, and memory (just search it online by yourself).
While preparing for A levels, I used to sleep at 10-11 and wake at 5:30-6:00 a.m. Because of this, I truly felt an it’s effects on my memory and my clarity of thoughts. However, the benefits of sleeping early will only be visible if you practice it over a long period of time (over 27 days minimally).
Besides, I find that sleeping early is better for me as my productivity decreases at night. This is because most people end work and stat being socially active at night — more distractions. Whereas if you wake early in the morning, combine it with a cold shower to wake you up, you will be able to study with fewer distractions.
3) Meditate
I was also once sceptical about the benefits of meditation. Beside, closing your eyes and sitting still for 10-15 mins feels kinda embarrassing in a room filled with commotions. My way of overcoming the awkwardness was to meditate immediately after waking up, while I’m still lying down (somehow I didn’t fall asleep). You can also meditate in a power nap posture just because it’s more normal for one to take power naps than to meditate XD
There are some things that you have to know in order see the sense in meditation. Firstly, meditation’s purpose is to increase your self awareness and control over your mind. When you are meditating, focus on your breathing and try to catch yourself when you get distracted, thereafter, bring your focus back to meditation. The Daily Meditation Podcast really helped me realise the pros of meditation.
I recommend meditating in the morning. I feel that when we meditate in the morning, we are subconsciously acclimatising our minds to this calm (and sometimes boring) state. This reduces the amount of stimuli needed for us to feel satisfied and relaxed, allowing us to study for longer period of time without feeling bored. The opposite is evident in many who use their phones the first thing in the morning. For example, going on YouTube immediately after bed can make it harder for one to focus on studying because our minds get acclimatised to the instant gratification from these social media platforms that the delayed gratification from studying becomes unbearable.
Unlike most of my other practices, the effects of meditating was rather immediate for me. But of course I do encourage regularly practicing meditation as it trains your mind to have more control over your body.
4) Cold shower
Somehow works the same way as meditating does to me — allowing me to focus for a longer period of time. Besides, taking a cold shower can really wake you up early in the morning. It also forces me to finish bathing faster, save dem time!
5) Exercise
Exercising (esp cardio) helped me increase my blood circulation which reduces the frequency of me getting mind-block. It generally lifts up my mood and helps make studying for long periods of time more bearable. Thinking about cardio, a 2.4 run that takes less than 20 mins of your day can make you leaner, help you pass IPPT and rejuvenate you. “Why not” right?
If you ever need motivation to run, this is my running playlist on Spotify. I like it a lot so I hope you guys do too!
6) Diet
While studying for A levels, I tried eating either almonds, blueberry, fish oil or chicken essence almost daily. However, compared to the above, the effects of diet on my memory and attention span wasn’t very obvious.
Nevertheless, I still do take them as they provided me with an extra sense of security.At times where I do not have enough time to perform my morning routine, eating these food does give me a sense of security and more confidence( which is important during exam).
7) Water
Water is crucial for our body to carry out daily activities. However, as for boosting memory and increasing attention span, I personally couldn’t feel the effects. This may be due to the fact that I usually already drink a lot of water. One thing I do know though, is that if you are dehydrated, you will feel more sleepy and your body won’t feel comfortable which will affect your focus by a bit.
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