Stress and Concentration

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Title: Stress and Concentration

Word Count: 776

Author: Trevor Dumbleton

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Stress and Concentration

Copyright 2005 Trevor Dumbleton

Those who are under stress, yet refuse to get help for it,

need to understand the relationship between stress &

concentration in order to understand why they need to

relax. This is because, at first, it seems though stress

is an aid to concentration. However, this is not the case

in the long term.

Long-term stress & concentration do not go hand-in-hand.

In fact, the more that one is stressed, the less able they

are to concentrate. However, people often keep themselves

under stress in order to help their concentration, despite

the fact that it is doing them absolutely no good.

Usually, this is because they believe that stress is

helping their concentration.

In fact, stress does help concentration for a short period

of time. This is because the body is dumping chemicals

into the brain to help it focus and throwing adrenaline

into the bloodstream in order to heighten the senses. This

helps the body hone in on its tasks and helps it to focus.

This is, in the beginning, a good thing. Short-term stress

really does help your concentration at first, which is very

useful when you need to hammer out last-minute paper for

school, a report for your boss, or you need to quickly fix

some computer problems that are keeping others from getting

their work done. Unfortunately, the short-term effects do

not last.

As you spend more and more time under stress, your ability

to concentrate lessens. The brain will have fired off so

many neurons that it cannot replenish its supply of

chemicals that helps the neurons fire. As well, that boost

of adrenaline that helps people focus will start to

heighten the senses to the point where the brain notices

every little thing around, causing you to be easily

distracted. Thus, the relationship between stress &

concentration becomes an inverse relationship.

The problem, of course, is that the more stress you are

undergoing, the more you need to concentrate in order to

relieve the causes of the stress. This means that your

brain is fighting against itself when you need to get work

done. This is what we like to refer to as a bad thing and

it can seriously injure your ability to get work done.

Needless to say, the biggest cause of stress around is the

fact that work needs to get done, so stress becomes a

self-defeating cycle.

What can you do to escape this damaging relationship

between stress & concentration? Well, there are a few

things you can do. The best is, of course, to walk away.

That’s right, just stop what you’re doing. Give yourself a

break. Put work on hiatus and do something else. Take a

walk, get some exercise, make a sandwich, watch an hour of

television. Just as long as you are doing something other

than work. This will distract your mind from whatever was

causing it stress, which is exactly what you need to do.

After all, your mind tends to get used to being stressed

after a while, making it less able to let go of its

concerns. This means that you need to make a conscious

effort to clear your mind, and the best way to do that is

to clear all the problems out of your head before you drown

in them.

If you are not able to walk away for some reason -- let’s

say that you are at work and the boss doesn’t like to see

people leave their desks -- you can still relieve stress

and help your concentration by performing a quick

relaxation exercise. Simply close your eyes (this helps,

but it can be done with your eyes open) and take deep

breaths. Concentrate on each breath as it fills your

lungs, then concentrate on the breath leaving as you

exhale. Focus your attention on your breathing until you

are paying attention to nothing else. Then, once you are

done, you should feel much more relaxed and able to

concentrate. If you do not feel better, repeat the

exercise until your mind is clear and uncluttered.

The big problem with stress & concentration is the simple

fact that stress helps concentration in the short run, but

hurts it in the long-run. Unfortunately, most people do

not notice this transition from helping to hindering and

they simply stay under stress and unable to focus. So when

you notice that your mind is racing too fast to allow your

brain to focus on anything, walk away or take a few deep

breaths in order to calm your mind. Then, you will be able

to escape the negative relationship between stress &

concentration.

About the Author:

LowerYourStress.com: for everything to do with stress. Get

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