Stress and Concentration

Stress and Concentration

Stress and concentration are not good bedfellows. At first, however, you may not realize your concentration is a stress sign because most associate poor concentration with stress, which is true the majority of the time. Short-term stress can actually increase your concentration for a while. This is because your senses are sharpened due to the state of fight or flight your body has been placed in. Hundreds of years ago, if you were living on the plains and found yourself faced with an angry buffalo, your adrenaline would be pumping, you would be completely focused, and tensed to make a move to escape once that buffalo decided to charge.

But we aren’t faced with buffalo hunting or dangerous predators anymore, so the fight or flight response does little to aid us, especially in this time of mental stressors. So while your senses and concentration are focused for a brief period of time, continued stress will eventually weaken them. The increase of chemicals in your brain and hormones throughout your body will mean your mind and body cannot keep up. Too much adrenaline will make you more likely to notice all the little things around you, which mean plenty of distraction. Ironically, it often comes that with more stress you have, the more you need to concentrate, so failure to be able to is quite a problem.

You need to learn to take a moment to stop and relax. Doing this can be difficult, but you need to give your body time to calm down and get back to a place where you can focus more efficiently. This can take as little time as closing your eyes and breathing deeply, giving all attention to your breathing. It may not be able to fully relax you, but as long as it gives you some help, you may be able to ease you stress and concentration will be regained.