To improve attention, consider the following strategies. "By training your brain to monitor if your mind is wandering, you strengthen the monitoring process and the ability to maintain focus on a single task." If so, just refocus on what you're reading," she says. When it goes off, ask yourself if your mind has wandered. "Read something for 30 minutes, setting a timer to go off every five minutes. Want a way to boost your attention and focus? Neuropsychologist Kim Willment of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital suggests a single-task exercise like reading. "When there's too much material, it burdens our filtering system and it's easy to get distracted," Dr. We are bombarded with information from TVs, computers, and messages such as texts or emails. Having too much alcohol impairs thinking and causes interrupted sleep, which affects concentration. Some drugs, especially anticholinergics (such as treatments for incontinence, depression, or allergies), can slow processing speed and your ability to think clearly.Įxcessive drinking. "You waste precious cognitive resources when you spend too much time trying to make out what's written on a page or just hear what someone is saying," Dr. So can the effects of vision or hearing loss. Depression or sleep disorders (such as sleep apnea) can undermine your ability to concentrate. The following factors can also affect your concentration. Daffner says this can be caused by a number of physiological stressors such as inflammation, injury to blood vessels (especially if you have high blood pressure), the buildup of abnormal proteins, and naturally occurring brain shrinkage. Like a computer that slows with use, the brain accumulates wear and tear that affects processing. Kirk Daffner, a neurologist and director of the Center for Brain/Mind Medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. What happened to the laser-sharp focus you once enjoyed? "Older people tend to have more difficulty filtering out stimuli that are not relevant to the task at hand," says Dr. You're trying to concentrate, but your mind is wandering or you're easily distracted. I've won nine out of my last 10 matches so hopefully we can keep that good record up.Mindfulness, cognitive training, and a healthy lifestyle may help sharpen your focus. “I’ve always liked my time on grass and especially after Newport that’s my favourite surface.īut the focus is now on hard court and hopefully we can make another run. Being able to hang with them and beat them was was pretty cool,” he said. “Newport showed that I can hang with the level of a great player like Mackenzie McDonald and with John, who is the best server to ever play the game. It’s little wonder that Michelsen says that grass is his favourite surface. 59 countryman Mackenzie McDonald and four-time tournament champion John Isner. Last week in Newport Michelsen took out defending champion Maxime Cressy, World No. It should be a fantastic time leading up to the US Open.” “Looking ahead to the summer now that I’m 140, I’ll definitely have some opportunities to get some wild cards. So for right now I’m just waiting and focussing on my tennis. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to my parents because they want to do that when I get home. But the decision will need to be made sooner rather than later,” he said. “To be honest, I'm not 100 per cent sure. A second consecutive deep run at an ATP 250 would only strengthen the thinking that he’s ready for the Tour. Now, Atlanta could play a pivotal role in his decision whether to go to college or to turn pro. But competing in the main draw of the Atlanta Open would have seemed a long shot until the past couple of weeks. That’s why it’s happening.”īecoming acquainted with Georgia has been on the cards for a while: Michelsen had already committed to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. “I would have been pretty happy, but it comes down to all the hard work I’ve been doing. “If you told me two weeks ago that I would move from 250 to 140 I don’t think I would have thought it could happen,” Michelsen told Monday at the Atlanta Open, where he has a special exempt entry into the main draw. Last week, he advanced to the Newport final in his second ATP Tour event, a run that saw the 18-year-old surge to World No. Two weeks ago, he won the Chicago Challenger, taking out former World No. Things are happening fast for California teen Alex Michelsen.
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