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Tools to Improve Your Focus & Concentration | Huberman Lab Essentials — Transcript

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0:00Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials,
0:01[music] where we revisit past episodes
0:04for the most potent and actionable
0:06science-based tools for mental health,
0:08physical health, and performance.
0:11I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor
0:13of neurobiology and opthalmology at
0:15Stanford School of Medicine. Today we
0:17are discussing focus and concentration
0:20and tools for improving your focus and
0:22concentration. And those tools will
0:24allow you to tap into the neurochemistry
0:26and the neural circuits within your
0:28brain and body that peer-reviewed
0:30science has reliably shown can
0:32significantly improve your focus and
0:34concentration abilities. Just to give
0:36you a little teaser of the kinds of
0:37tools that I'm going to provide you on
0:38today's episode, a previous guest on the
0:40Hubberman Lab podcast was Dr. Wendy
0:42Suzuki. Dr. Suzuki is a professor of
0:44psychology and neuroscience at New York
0:46University or NYU as it's commonly
0:48referred to. her laboratory made a very
0:50important discovery which was that a
0:52very brief just 12 actually 13 if you
0:55really count the the intro but 13 minute
0:58daily meditation performed for a period
1:00of about 8 weeks significantly increased
1:03people's focus and concentration
1:05abilities and the great news is you
1:06didn't need all eight weeks it was just
1:08that's how long that you ran the study
1:10so during today's episode I will
1:11describe that protocol in detail I'll
1:13also provide you an even briefer
1:15alternative to that protocol that you
1:17can use if for instance you find
1:19yourself with only 3 minutes or 4
1:20minutes or 5 minutes a day to meditate
1:23because today's episode is mainly
1:24focused on tools and not so much the
1:26underlying mechanisms. I'm mainly going
1:28to focus on what to do and when and how
1:30to do it. But I just want to take about
1:323 minutes and briefly describe a model
1:35that is a visual image that you can put
1:37in your mind that will help you
1:39incorporate the tools that I'll provide
1:41and that generally will help you
1:42understand at a mechanistic level how
1:45focus and concentration work. What I
1:47want you to imagine is an arrow. And an
1:50arrow of course has an arrow head and it
1:52has the shaft of that arrow. The
1:54neurochemical system that really
1:56represents the shaft of that arrow,
1:58right? The straight line is epinephrine,
2:01also called adrenaline. Turns out that
2:03epinephrine/adrenaline
2:05are released within your brain from a
2:07little location, a little cluster of
2:08neurons called locus ceruius, but you do
2:10not need to remember that name. and from
2:12your body from the adrenal glands. And
2:16the release of epinephrine from those
2:18two locations overall increases energy.
2:21It increases alertness. It does not
2:24alone increase focus. Okay? So things
2:28whether or not they're behavioral or
2:29psychological or supplements or drugs
2:33that increase epinephrine allow focus to
2:36occur. They are necessary for focus but
2:38they are not sufficient for focus. that
2:40is they are required but they are not
2:42enough to create focus. So we're going
2:44to need epinephrine in the equation. Now
2:46the arrow head on this metaphorical
2:50arrow head that represents focus and
2:52concentration is going to be represented
2:54or related to the mechanisms of
2:56acetylcholine. And the best way to think
2:58about it is it's like a spotlight. It
3:01highlights specific neurons nerve cells
3:04that should be active or more active I
3:06should say than the other neurons in the
3:08environment. If you have an arrow with a
3:10very big arrow head that's really broad,
3:12really blunt. Imagine a mile wide arrow
3:14head that's not very focused on any one
3:16location. It's not really pointing to
3:17any one location, is it? But with a
3:21narrow, really tightly focused arrow
3:23head, well, that's focused on one
3:25location. So, we have alertness,
3:27epinephrine, and then we have the actual
3:30direction in which our concentration and
3:32focus is placed. And that's in at least
3:35in this mental model I'm creating
3:36acetylcholine. And then in order to have
3:40ongoing focus, we need another
3:43neurochemical. And it turns out that
3:45that third neurochemical is dopamine. A
3:47molecule often associated with pleasure
3:49and reward. But it's really the molecule
3:52of motivation. These three
3:53neurochemicals together, acetyloline,
3:55epinephrine, and dopamine, really allow
3:58you to get focused, to focus very
4:02precisely, and in fact increasingly
4:04precisely over time, to really narrow
4:06and narrow and narrow your focus
4:07progressively within a single bout of
4:09focus, and to continue to do that and to
4:12be able to do that repeatedly whenever
4:14you want. Let's jump into the tools for
4:16concentration and focus. One of the most
4:18important things to build and maintain
4:21your focus and concentration is to
4:24optimize your sleeping behavior. That is
4:27to get enough quality sleep I would say
4:2980% of the nights of your life. Not
4:31everyone can get optimal sleep 100% of
4:33the nights of their life. Nobody truly
4:36nobody achieves that. However, sleep has
4:39been shown to relate to cognitive
4:41performance, physical performance,
4:43hormone output and so many other things.
4:46What we can reliably say is that sleep
4:49modulates just about every process in
4:52your brain and body. So assuming that
4:54you are sleeping well 80% of the nights
4:56of your life or at least working on the
4:58various protocols and tools to sleep
5:01well and sufficiently long 80% of the
5:04nights of your life and you are
5:06interested in additional tools that are
5:08soundbased in order to improve your
5:11ability to concentrate and focus. There
5:13are quality peer-reviewed studies
5:15supporting the idea that white noise or
5:17pink noise have been shown to not
5:20improve concentration per se, but to
5:23improve people's ability to transition
5:25into concentrated states. There is
5:28indeed some data to support the fact
5:30that white noise and to some extent pink
5:32noise and brown noise can amplify the
5:34activity of neurons in the so-called
5:36prefrontal cortex. this front area, sort
5:38of the bumper behind your forehead, uh
5:40that is directly related to your ability
5:43to direct your own focus and remain
5:46focused on certain things. These are
5:48tools that really have been shown over
5:50and over in humans to decrease the
5:53transition time into focus. This is a
5:55really key point. A lot of people are
5:57challenged with getting into a mode of
5:59focus. None of us, however, should be
6:01expected to just sit down and drop
6:03directly into a state of focus. I think
6:05that's completely an unfair request of
6:08ourselves. I mean, for instance, you
6:09wouldn't expect yourself to go out on
6:11the track or go out for a run and not
6:12warm up. You might jog for a few minutes
6:14or even walk before you would jog and
6:16then jog before you would run, right? I
6:18would hope you would do that. And if
6:19you're doing resistance training, I
6:21doubt that you go over and load up the
6:22bar or the machine with the maximum
6:23amount of weight that you can move and
6:24then just drop right into that. You
6:25always do a warm-up. And I think it's
6:27very important to understand mental
6:28work, focus, and concentration as
6:30requiring that warm-up. There's a
6:32gradual dropping into any state whether
6:34or not that state is sleep, right? You
6:35go from shallow sleep to deep sleep and
6:37then out eventually. Focus two, you go
6:40from shallow focus to increasingly deep
6:43focus. That is in our metaphor of the
6:47arrow, it's very broad. It's pointed at
6:49a lot of things and over time as we drop
6:51into focus that arrow is narrowing and
6:53narrowing and narrowing. It is not what
6:55we call a step function. It's not like
6:56you go from unfocused to focus and then
6:58you drop into your maximum focus. By
7:00understanding that it's dynamic, by
7:02understanding that you are going to be
7:04continually going in and out of
7:06progressively but varying levels of
7:09focus, you will greatly release the
7:12pressure on yourself to feel focused all
7:15the time when you want to be. So be
7:17patient with yourself and also
7:18understand that focus is an ability that
7:21you can improve your ability to focus by
7:23engaging the neural circuits responsible
7:25for focus repeatedly over time through
7:27so-called neuroplasticity. the ability
7:29of your nervous system to change in
7:31response to experience. And that has a
7:32couple of different components. But put
7:34very simply, what we repeat gets etched
7:37into our nervous system and becomes
7:38easier over time. A question I often get
7:40is, "How long should I try to focus?"
7:42Well, the research literature point to
7:44the key importance of so-called
7:46altradian cycles. You've all probably
7:47heard of circadian cycles or circadian
7:50biology. Circa the day, circadian is
7:54about 24-hour cycle. Well, our brain and
7:56body operate within that day or within
7:58each and every day I should say with
8:0190inute altradian cycles. So my
8:03suggestion would be anytime you're going
8:05to sit down and try and focus, you're
8:06going to try and do a focused bout of
8:08physical exercise or skill learning or
8:10musical learning or maybe you're even
8:12just having a conversation, maybe you're
8:13a therapist or you're attending therapy
8:14or a class. How long should it be? And
8:17the ideal duration is about 90 minutes.
8:19Everything from our sleep states or the
8:21different stages of sleep and our waking
8:24states is divided into these 90minute
8:26cycles or so-called ultradian cycles. I
8:28acknowledge and accept the fact that the
8:30first 5 to 10 minutes of that 90 minutes
8:32are a transition time. It's like the
8:34warm-up for focus, but I do include it
8:36in that 90 minutes. I'm often asked how
8:38many altradian cycles one can perform
8:40throughout the day. That depends on how
8:42well you slept, how well you are
8:44nourished, which we'll talk about in a
8:45moment, and how well trained up your
8:48focus capacity is. Again, this is not to
8:50say that you should go to your teacher
8:52or your um PhD adviser or your parent or
8:54your friends and say, "Listen, I I can't
8:56really concentrate or think about
8:57anything for more than 90 minutes per
8:59day." That's not what I'm saying. These
9:00are deep focus bouts. These are bouts of
9:02mental work or physical work where
9:03you're really forcing yourself to focus
9:05and refocus to sharpen the head of that
9:07arrowhead to redirect it to what you're
9:09trying to concentrate on. And it is
9:10indeed hard work. I would even think
9:12about it more or less like a workout of
9:14any [snorts] kind. Your ability to focus
9:16and in fact your ability of neurons to
9:19encode specific information in your
9:21environment that is to represent what's
9:23out there in the world is actually
9:25related to your blood glucose level.
9:27There's a beautiful study that was
9:28published in neuron not long ago that
9:29showed that the tuning that is the
9:31precision with which neurons in the
9:33brain represent things in our
9:34environment is actually much greater
9:38when there is sufficient glucose in the
9:39brain. Translated into English, this
9:41means that when we are fasted or when
9:43our blood glucose is very low, we aren't
9:45able to perceive and think about things
9:48as clearly. Now, there's a twist to
9:50this, however. One of the things that
9:51you hear very often is that some people
9:53like being fasted because they like the
9:55clarity of mind that it provides. Here's
9:58the situation. Neurons, unless you're in
10:00a ketogenic diet, really thrive on
10:02glucose. They love glucose. So, why
10:04would it be that some people experience
10:06a heightened state of mental clarity
10:08when they are fasted? I've certainly
10:09experienced that before. Well, I should
10:11say that provided you're well hydrated
10:13enough and you have enough electrolytes
10:14in your system. What tends to happen is
10:16that when you ingest food, there's a
10:18shift in your nervous system towards
10:20so-called parasympathetic modes. You've
10:21probably heard it as rest and digest,
10:23although it does other things. A more
10:24relaxed mode that can indeed make us
10:26very sleepy. If we have too many
10:27carbohydrates, it actually can make us
10:29quite sleepy. However, if we have any
10:31food, if we have enough of it, that is
10:34if our gut is full, it diverts blood to
10:36our gut and we become sleepy and we
10:38can't focus as well. Imagine a Ushaped
10:40function, right? Where if you're very
10:43fasted, you're going to have high degree
10:45of focus and concentration. But then if
10:47you ingest some food and your belly is
10:49full, your focus and concentration is
10:50reduced. But having enough blood glucose
10:54and maybe even elevated blood glucose
10:56will increase cognitive function. So,
10:58you sort of have to pick your condition.
11:00What do you want for your bouts of focus
11:01and concentration? I actually do both.
11:04So, what I do is, as I mentioned before,
11:05I eat my meals sometime around 11:00
11:07a.m. my first meal typically, unless I'm
11:09very hungry when I wake up. And so, I
11:11will do my workout and one bout of
11:14focused work. I always think of this as
11:15my hard work early in the day. And I do
11:18that fasted. I'll be consuming water
11:20with electrolytes. That's my first focus
11:22bout of 90 minutes or less. And then
11:24I'll eat. And then I do notice after I
11:27eat I actually have a diminished
11:28capacity to focus. But then again in the
11:30afternoon I will do another 90-minute
11:32bout of focus. So to make this very
11:34simple or as simple as I can for you
11:36being fasted is great for focus and
11:39concentration provided you're not
11:41thinking about food the entire time and
11:44being fed is terrific for focus and
11:46concentration. Actually can improve
11:47neuronal function provided that you
11:49didn't eat too much food. So, one way to
11:52manage this is if you're going to have a
11:54lunch to make sure that you don't stuff
11:55yourself at lunch that you're not
11:57overeating and to not get quite so full
12:00that you push your nervous system into
12:02this parasympathetic mode and make it
12:04hard to focus in the afternoon. But if
12:05you're eating large meals, you are going
12:07to diminish your concentration and focus
12:10period. I know many people are curious
12:11as to whether or not caffeine can
12:14improve focus and concentration. And
12:16indeed, it can. There is a kind of
12:19general range in which we can talk about
12:21caffeine as being useful for focus and
12:23concentration and the range is basically
12:26from 100 milligrams to 400 milligrams. I
12:29want to caution everybody out there if
12:30you're somebody who suffers from anxiety
12:33or panic attacks and you're not used to
12:35ingesting caffeine and you run out and
12:37ingest 400 milligrams of caffeine in the
12:38form of espresso or yerba mate or an
12:40energy drink or in pill form that is
12:43going to be very uncomfortable for you.
12:45You're going to be sweating profusely.
12:46your heart rate is going to increase.
12:47You're going to be quite panicked in
12:50fact or at least anxious. But most
12:52people do quite well to ingest 100 to
12:53200 milligrams of caffeine prior to
12:56doing some focused work. I will caution
12:58those of you that think that you can
12:59drink caffeine in the evening or
13:01nighttime and still fall asleep. All of
13:03the research points to the fact that the
13:05architecture of your sleep and the depth
13:06of your sleep is disrupted. Even if
13:08you're able to fall and stay asleep, the
13:10sleep you're getting is simply not as
13:12good as the sleep you would get if you
13:13were to shut off your caffeine intake at
13:15least eight hours before bedtime and
13:17ideally more like 10 or even 12 hours
13:19before bedtime. But of course, there are
13:20practical constraints as well. There's
13:23an excellent study that was carried out
13:25not that long ago on how stress itself
13:28can increase our ability to focus and
13:30concentrate. You know, most people think
13:31of stress as impairing our ability to
13:33focus, but that's actually not true.
13:35When we are stressed, it involves the
13:38deployment, the release of adrenaline,
13:40epinephrine. And that adrenaline both
13:42changes our visual field. In other
13:44words, it narrows our vision to a more
13:46tunnel-like
13:48focus. That is, it makes the arrow in
13:50our metaphor of the arrow more sharp and
13:55it improves our concentration. So the
13:57study that really shows quite
13:59definitively that acute stress meaning
14:01stress that comes on fairly suddenly
14:03improves concentration performance it's
14:05a paper published in the journal
14:07experimental psychology in 2020. The
14:09title of the paper is not surprisingly
14:11acute stress improves concentration
14:14performance. First author Degrroot d o
14:17t. And this study involved taking a
14:21number of subjects and stressing them
14:23out or not prior to a cognitive or
14:26concentration task. And there are a lot
14:28of data in this paper, but I'm just
14:30going to home in on one specific set of
14:31data. And I should mention as I go there
14:34that they measured things like cortisol,
14:35a stress hormone. They measured anxiety.
14:38It was a quite thorough study. And what
14:40they found was that concentration
14:41performance improved manyfold I should
14:45say from there was a greater than
14:47doubling of concentration and
14:49performance in the stress group and
14:51stress in this context was provided
14:53using a standard way of inducing stress.
14:55What they basically do is they bring
14:57subjects into the laboratory and they
14:59have to do a simulated job interview and
15:01arithmetic task and they're being
15:03evaluated as they're doing this. So this
15:04isn't you know intense psychosocial
15:07stress. you know, they're not watching
15:08anything disturbing. They're not being
15:10traumatized in any kind of way. This is
15:11fairly low levels of stress that raise
15:14their levels of epinephrine, and we know
15:16this uh from this study, and their
15:18levels of cortisol, another stress
15:19hormone, modestly within their brain and
15:22blood, but that even modest increase in
15:25these stress hormones and their reported
15:28psychological levels of stress really
15:30enhance their focus and concentration.
15:32Now, of course, there are other ways to
15:34increase stress levels and to do that in
15:35healthy ways to improve concentration
15:38and performance. And one of the best
15:39ways to do that because it's so sure
15:41fire and it's generally safe, provided
15:44you do it safely, is deliberate cold
15:46exposure. This is something I've talked
15:48about on the podcast before, but
15:50deliberate cold exposure can be achieved
15:52by getting into a cold shower for one to
15:54five minutes. We know that getting into
15:57cold water or under cold water greatly
15:59increases epinephrine levels and
16:02dopamine levels. There's a beautiful
16:03study that was published in the European
16:05Journal of Physiology that showed that
16:07the increases in dopamine are massive.
16:09you know, a near doubling or more of
16:11dopamine levels that are very long
16:13lasting for hours and epinephrine and in
16:17ways that support not just immune system
16:20function because they do that and mood
16:22because it does that, but that can
16:24really improve concentration and focus.
16:26This is not a biohack. Uh I don't like
16:28the word hack. I know it's commonly
16:30used, but a hack is something where
16:32you're using one thing for a different
16:33purpose than it was originally intended
16:35for. And here I'm not referring to the
16:36shower or the cold bath. I'm referring
16:38to epinephrine. Epinephrine is a
16:39neurochemical that will place your
16:42vision into more of a tunnel mode, which
16:44will allow you to focus on cognitive
16:45work or physical work in a more specific
16:47way. You're not going to be as
16:48distractable. And it's very easy to
16:50achieve by getting into a cold shower or
16:53a cold body of water for a brief period
16:56of time. People always ask how long to
16:59get under or into cold water and how
17:01cold to make it. Here's the thing. It
17:03should be uncomfortably cold but safe to
17:05stay in for 1 to 5 minutes. Cold water
17:08exposure, I should say deliberate cold
17:09water or non-eliberate cold water
17:11exposure reliably increases epinephrine
17:15levels. It is incredibly useful as a
17:17tool for this. Some of you might think
17:19this is a little bit silly as a tool for
17:21focus and concentration, but if you look
17:23at the data on epinephrine and how
17:26powerfully it can increase focus, I
17:28think you'd be very impressed. I mean it
17:30certainly can increase one's ability to
17:32attend to specific visual stimula. So
17:34for reading or math work etc. It's going
17:37to be very useful. The point here is
17:38that a lot of people would love to and I
17:41think ought to leverage the
17:43healthpromoting and powerful effects of
17:45increasing epinephrine on focus and
17:47concentration. And running out and
17:49getting stressed by a life event or
17:51getting into an argument or something
17:52like that simply as a way to increase
17:54focus and concentration doesn't seem
17:55that adaptive to me. So deliberate cold
17:57exposure is a straightforward way to do
17:59that. It doesn't involve anyone else. I
18:01suppose you could do it with somebody
18:02else, but it doesn't require anyone
18:03else. And again, there are zero, low,
18:06and even negative cost ways to approach
18:08that. Now, I'd like to discuss some of
18:10the purely behavioral tools that quality
18:12peer-reviewed science say can improve
18:15focus and concentration significantly.
18:17At the beginning of today's episode, I
18:19talked about the study from Dr. for
18:20Wendy Suzuki's lab where they explored a
18:2313-minute meditation done every day for
18:26a period of 8 weeks. That meditation led
18:29to significant improvements in focus and
18:31concentration ability as well as other
18:33aspects of cognitive performance. It
18:35also improved mood and reduced stress.
18:38So, you might be wondering what exactly
18:39is this meditation? The meditation is
18:41very simple and it's one that anyone can
18:44perform. What you would want to do is
18:46set a timer for about 13 minutes. I
18:48don't think it has to be exactly 13
18:50minutes, but since that's what they
18:51included in the study, you would set a
18:53timer for 13 minutes, you would sit or
18:56lie down, close your eyes, and you would
18:59simply focus on your breathing. Ideally,
19:02you would do just nasal breathing for a
19:04period of 13 minutes, concentrating on
19:06that breathing. And concentrating,
19:08meaning bringing your awareness to a
19:10point just about an inch inside of your
19:13forehead while also concentrating on
19:15your breathing. Now, here's the thing
19:16about meditation that all studies of
19:20meditation show, which is that unless
19:22you are a very experienced meditator,
19:25your concentration, your focus will
19:27drift away from your breathing and away
19:30from that location about an inch inside
19:33your head, inside your brain. That will
19:36happen maybe every 10 seconds, every 20
19:38seconds, maybe even every 5 seconds. But
19:41an important part of such a meditation
19:43practice to improve concentration and
19:44focus is that you are continually
19:47refocusing
19:49back to that specific location and
19:50refocusing back on your breath. This is
19:53something that again is not often
19:55discussed. People think that if you do a
19:56meditation and you're supposed to
19:58concentrate on your breath that if your
19:59mind drifts that somehow you failed in
20:01that meditation. But actually that's not
20:03the case. A huge component of improving
20:06your ability to focus and concentrate by
20:09way of neuroplasticity, rewiring of the
20:11circuits for focus and concentration is
20:14the repeated return to a state of focus
20:17from a state of nonfocus or diminished
20:20focus. Okay? So, think about it like
20:22trying to drive down the freeway and
20:24staying between the lane lines, excuse
20:26me. And every once in a while, because
20:28there's a bit of drift on the vehicle,
20:30maybe the wheels aren't aligned
20:31correctly or there's something else
20:32wrong with the chassis or the steering
20:34device, it starts to drift right a
20:36little bit, then you hit the rumble
20:37strip to go and then you pull back to
20:39the center. That's really what a focused
20:41meditation practice is about, as opposed
20:44to expecting yourself to stay between
20:46the mental lane lines, so to speak. By
20:49doing that repeatedly over and over,
20:50what you're really training up is the
20:53network within your brain that indeed
20:55includes that prefrontal cortex that
20:57you're focusing on as well as some other
20:58structures, the infratemporal cortex,
21:00indeed the hippocampus, a structure
21:02associated with memory and other
21:04components of the neural circuit that
21:06are involved in directing our mental
21:08focus and concentration. The point here
21:10isn't how long you focus or somehow
21:14trying to achieve total focus for the
21:16entire 13 minute or 17 minute or
21:1860-minute bout of meditation. While that
21:21would be wonderful and I think many
21:23people aspire to do that, that's a lot
21:25of hard mental work. I think for most
21:26people out there, including myself, a
21:28relatively short meditation practice of
21:31about 13 minutes in which you fully
21:34expect your focus and concentration to
21:37drift, but that you are continually
21:38refocusing is going to be the most
21:40effective, yes indeed, the most
21:42effective at teaching yourself to focus
21:45and stay concentrated. In fact, I invite
21:47you to interpret every time that you
21:49focus off that location about one inch
21:52behind your forehead as an opportunity
21:54to refocus and think about the
21:56refocusing as the trigger for teaching
21:58your neural circuits how to focus for
22:00extended periods of time. And as a bonus
22:02to that sort of meditation practice, the
22:04study from Wendy Suzuki's lab also
22:06showed that people experienced
22:08improvements in sleep and improvements
22:10in memory. So, not just improvements in
22:12mood and reduction in stress and
22:13improvements in focus and concentration,
22:15but all these other positive benefits
22:17from just doing that 13 minute a day
22:19meditation practice. It's one that I've
22:21started to adopt and have felt
22:23tremendous benefit from and that I
22:24encourage many of you to try as well.
22:26Now, there's another set of behavioral
22:28tools that can really help enhance one's
22:30ability to focus and those are
22:32visualbased tools. In fact, the tools
22:34I'm about to describe are actually being
22:36employed in a number of schools in China
22:39and elsewhere in order to teach children
22:41to focus better and for longer periods
22:44of time. The key principle here is that
22:48much of our cognitive focus, our ability
22:51to think about something in a very
22:52specific way and stay focused on it to
22:54read or to follow a line of conversation
22:58or math or music etc. is going to be
23:02directed by our visual system. That's
23:04also why they put blinders on horses.
23:06That's also why sometimes wearing a
23:08hoodie or a hat or limiting your visual
23:10field in some way can help you enhance
23:14your cognitive focus. It can help limit
23:15distraction. You're just not seeing as
23:17much. So what is a practice that has
23:20been studied in various laboratories and
23:23that's being employed in various schools
23:24is to have children or adults visually
23:28focus on one location for a given period
23:31of time. How long? Anywhere from 30
23:34seconds to 3 minutes. And believe it or
23:36not, 3 minutes is a long time to
23:37maintain visual focus at one location.
23:40You if you were to try that right now,
23:41you'd probably find it to be a bit of a
23:43strain. But if you want to try it, you
23:44can. Also keep in mind that the
23:46refocusing is the key component of
23:49teaching yourself or your brain how to
23:51focus better. So if you're going to
23:54incorporate this practice, what you
23:56would want to do is pick a location. It
23:58could be on a wall, could be on your
24:00computer in front of you, although I
24:01would encourage it to not be the
24:02contents of your computer screen. You
24:04might just want to blank your screen.
24:05You might want to put a piece of paper
24:06with a crosshatch there. Any sort of
24:08visual target or you can imagine a
24:10visual target. and then focus your
24:12visual attention on that target and try
24:14to breathe normally. Try and stay
24:15relaxed and certainly allow yourself to
24:17blink so your eyes don't dry out. By
24:19focusing on that particular location and
24:21by forcing yourself to refocus on that
24:23location anytime your gaze, your vision
24:27drifts from that location, you are
24:29encouraging the circuits for focus to
24:32get better at focusing for longer and
24:33longer and at refocusing when your focus
24:35drifts off of that location. This
24:38practice is recruiting certain elements
24:40of your so-called prefrontal cortex.
24:42Also, the frontal eye fields, which are
24:44locations not far from the prefrontal
24:46cortex that are involved in deliberately
24:48directing your gaze to particular
24:50locations in space. Here's what I
24:52recommend. Set yourself a low bar at
24:55first and set a timer and try to focus
24:59on one location for 30 seconds and
25:01that's it for that day. The next day you
25:03might add 5 seconds and then the next
25:06day 5 seconds after that. If you miss a
25:07day, no big deal. Simply do the practice
25:11for the same amount of time that you did
25:13the last time that you did the practice
25:14and then gradually try and increase the
25:17amount of time that you can focus on one
25:19visual location overtly by looking
25:21directly at that location. So, what I
25:23recommend is having a 30-se secondond to
25:263 minute period at the beginning of a
25:30bout of focus where you're going to do
25:32work or physical work and anchoring your
25:35vision to one location somewhere in the
25:38room or if you want to do it covertly,
25:40you can do that. Setting a timer and
25:42trying to do that for anywhere from 30
25:43seconds to 3 minutes. What you're doing
25:45when you exercise that practice is you
25:49are ramping up neural activity within
25:52the neural circuits that create focus
25:55and concentration. And then I would move
25:56to the work that you're trying to do
25:57either mental work or physical work. And
26:00if about halfway through your 90-minute
26:02bout or at some point in your 90-minute
26:04bout of work or exercise, you feel that
26:05your concentration is drifting, rather
26:07than look at your phone and scroll
26:09through the thousands of contexts that
26:11exists within social media or your
26:13phone, try just picking a location again
26:15on the wall, focusing back on that
26:17location, using that as a ramp up to
26:20then direct your focus back towards if
26:22you're weight training sets and reps
26:23that you might be performing. If you're
26:24running, you might do this or cycling,
26:27you might do this by focusing on a
26:29particular location and really homing in
26:31on that location physically. And this is
26:33a practice that a lot of athletes use,
26:35in fact. And if you're say doing musical
26:37practice or math, well, then you'd want
26:39to focus on something other than the
26:41task that you're trying to perform. But
26:43again, using visual focus as a way to
26:45ramp up and increase your overall
26:48ability to focus and concentrate and
26:50then applying that to whatever it is
26:51that you're trying to learn or perform.
26:53Next, I'd like to talk about compounds
26:55that can improve concentration and
26:56focus. And these are most often consumed
26:59as supplements, although some of them, I
27:01should mention, can also be derived from
27:03food. One of the key compounds that
27:06supports concentration and focus because
27:07it generally supports mood concentration
27:10and focus and brain function in general
27:13are the omega-3 essential fatty acids.
27:16And it's really clear that getting
27:17somewhere between one and three grams of
27:20EPA essential fatty acid per day can
27:23improve outcomes. That is can improve
27:25mood and can improve cognitive function.
27:28Again, in the context of focus and
27:29concentration, it's in modulating the
27:32neural circuits and brain function that
27:34are going to support focus and
27:36concentration. And it's not as if taking
27:381 to three grams of EPA essential fatty
27:40acids per day is going to tap directly
27:43into only the circuits for focus and
27:45concentration. The other thing that can
27:47positively modulate brain function and
27:50that actually works as a fuel for
27:52neurons to function and can improve
27:54cognitive performance in particular
27:56within the brain circuits such as the
27:58prefrontal cortex that are involved in
28:00concentration and focus is creatine. I
28:02know many people are familiar with
28:03creatine monohydrate for its effects on
28:06muscle growth and strength and
28:08performance. But it's quite clear that
28:09the bulk of scientific studies have
28:11examined the role of creatine in the
28:13clinical context and as its role in
28:16improving cognitive performance. So my
28:17read of the literature has led to a
28:19practice in which I ingest five grams
28:21per day of creatine monohydrate. The
28:23sort of standard form that's available
28:25really isn't geared towards muscle
28:27growth or strength or performance as
28:29much as geared toward tapping into the
28:31creatine phosphate system within the
28:33brain and specifically the benefits of
28:36creatine for prefrontal cortical
28:38networks. Again, modulating, not
28:40directly mediating, but modulating and
28:42generally supporting the brain networks
28:45that are going to allow me to generate
28:47focus and concentration. Now, in terms
28:49of compounds that more specifically
28:51mediate concentration and focus, we have
28:53to go back to that arrow metaphor model
28:55that we talked about at the beginning of
28:56the episode that included epinephrine,
28:59adrenaline, acetylcholine, which acts as
29:02this attentional spotlight. In fact,
29:04acetylcholine and elevated levels of
29:06acetylcholine have been shown over and
29:08over again to improve or even directly
29:11gate neuroplasticity by increasing focus
29:15directly. As I mentioned earlier, there
29:17are a number of different foods which
29:18contain choline. You can look those up
29:20online. Choline acting as an amino acid
29:22precursor to acetylcholine. But of
29:24course, there are compounds, there are
29:25supplements that can further and more
29:27acutely increase acetyloline. And
29:28indeed, I use these myself. The most
29:30effective one I've found is alphagpc.
29:33Alpha GPC consumed at dosages of 300
29:37milligrams to 600 milligrams prior to a
29:40workout or prior to a workout greatly
29:43increase one's ability to focus and
29:45concentrate. At least that's been my
29:46experience. And there are some good data
29:48in humans. Now, a number of people have
29:50contacted me about a recent study
29:53suggesting that alpha GPC when taken
29:55chronically over many years could
29:57increase one's vulnerability to stroke.
30:00I've looked at those data and my read of
30:03the data is that they're not very
30:05conclusive. Although anytime you see
30:07something like that, you obviously want
30:09to be concerned. And it seems to be
30:11related to increases in TMAO, which is a
30:14marker related to the cardiovascular
30:16system. And one known way to offset
30:20increases in TMAO that are associated
30:22either with alpha GPC or increases due
30:26to other things. So ingestion of
30:28particular food compounds actually can
30:29increase TMAO is to offset that by
30:33taking 600 milligrams of garlic. Now
30:36I've been taking alpha GPC pretty
30:38consistently for a number of years. I do
30:39not take it every day. I would say I
30:41take it about four days per week again
30:43prior to workouts or bouts of cognitive
30:45work. I have not seen my TMAO spike and
30:49I've evaluated that by way of blood
30:51tests. But based on this recent study
30:53and the concerns about TMAO, I make it a
30:57point to always ingest a 600 mgram
30:59capsule of garlic anytime I take alpha
31:02GPC, which again for me is about 4 days
31:04per week. So if one wants to increase
31:06the amount of dopamine transmission in
31:09the brain and body for sake of
31:11increasing concentration and focus, one
31:13of the most efficient ways to do that is
31:15by ingestion of the amino acid elyroine.
31:18I use el tyroine in capsule form. I will
31:21take 500 milligrams of elyroine, 300
31:23milligrams of alpha GPZ, and a cup of
31:25coffee. Do this early in the day before
31:27a workout or before a bout of
31:30concentrated mental work. I don't want
31:32to give the impression that I combine
31:34every tool that I've talked about today
31:36for a given work bout. That to me seems
31:39like a very inefficient way to go about
31:41life. In fact, I make it a point to try
31:44and use tools to increase my ability to
31:47concentrate and focus, but not to
31:49combine more than two or three of them
31:51at any one time. Other days, I confess,
31:53I've slept very well, or my enthusiasm
31:56about what I'm about to work on is such
31:58that I don't require any of these tools.
32:00Again, there's no requirement. There's
32:03no pressure to use any of these tools,
32:04behavioral, supplement based, or
32:06otherwise. It's simply a matter of using
32:10the tools that are going to allow you to
32:12achieve the states you want to achieve
32:13and to improve your ability to go into
32:16those states without any help at all. I
32:18prefer to look at supplements of the
32:20sort that I just described as a route
32:22into a deeper trench of focus and
32:24concentration that I use as a tool to
32:27teach myself to focus and concentrate
32:29more deeply such that I don't need those
32:32tools every single time I try and focus
32:34and concentrate. I think this is an
32:36important point because I think that
32:37many people think of supplements as a
32:39crutch or a way of simply getting into a
32:43state for which no other tool will
32:46suffice or replace. But in that context
32:49I want to remind you of the larger
32:51context of pharmarmacology which is the
32:53vast landscape of prescription
32:54pharmarmacology for ADHD for attention
32:57deficit hyperactivity disorder. Now I
32:59covered that landscape in intense detail
33:02on the episode on ADHD and focus. And
33:05just to summarize, there is of course
33:09aderall, rolin, vivance, modafanyl, arm
33:12modafanyl, a number of different
33:14compounds, all of which generally
33:16increase dopamine transmission in the
33:18brain. So increasing dopamine and all of
33:20which generally increase epinephrine,
33:22adrenaline transmission in the brain and
33:24body. And many of those compounds have
33:27been of tremendous benefit to children
33:30and even some adults who suffer from
33:31ADHD. So properly prescribed at the
33:35appropriate dosage, those compounds can
33:38really help people with clinically
33:39diagnosed ADHD.
33:42The way they help those people is a bit
33:44surprising. However, you might think,
33:46well, they turn on the brain chemicals
33:48that allow those people to concentrate
33:49and focus. That's true. But they also
33:52have the benefit of teaching those brain
33:55circuits how to engage. And that's one
33:59of the reasons why somewhat
34:00paradoxically giving a stimulant like
34:03rolin or aderall to a kid that
34:06legitimately needs it. Obviously, you
34:07don't want to do this without the
34:09oversight and careful evaluation of a
34:12psychiatrist, but giving that to a kid
34:14who has severe ADHD, you would think
34:17would make them rem more rambunctious,
34:19less able to focus, and more
34:21distractable overall. After all, rolin,
34:24modafanyl, arm modafanyl, all these
34:26things are stimulants. So you take a kid
34:27who has attention deficit hyperactivity
34:29disorder and give them these drugs that
34:32increase transmission of dopamine and
34:34epinephrine. You'd think, "Wow, it's
34:35going to make them even more
34:36distractable and hyperactive." And
34:38indeed, it has the opposite effect. It
34:39doesn't necessarily make them feel calm,
34:41but it makes them feel that they can
34:44focus. They really can anchor their
34:46attention. And the idea is that it's
34:48teaching those neural circuits or those
34:50neural circuits rather are teaching
34:51themselves to engage and to focus and
34:54concentrate. And the ideal situation is
34:56one in which the total dosage of those
34:58compounds, those drugs can be reduced
35:00over time as those circuits learn to
35:02come online through purely behavioral
35:04tools. But I strongly discourage the use
35:07of powerful prescription drugs that have
35:09not been prescribed you. First of all,
35:11it's illegal. Second of all, it's quite
35:12dangerous to hit the accelerator of
35:15those neural circuits with such vigor
35:17because it can increase dependency and
35:19they can have a number of other side
35:20effects outside the context of
35:22clinically diagnosed and prescribed ADHD
35:26medication. I always believe that
35:28behavioral tools should come first, then
35:30focus on nutrition. In fact, I would say
35:32behavioral and nutrition tools and of
35:34course get excellent sleep. then focus
35:37on supplementation and then and only if
35:42those are failing to bring your brain
35:44and body to the state you need to be in
35:45to perform well in school and work in
35:47life etc do I recommend that people lean
35:50on prescription drugs so today we've
35:53talked about a number of different tools
35:55and to some extent some mechanisms
35:57involved in concentration and focus and
35:59really the goal has been to provide you
36:01an understanding of the neurochemical
36:03systems and a little bit about the
36:04neural circuits that can allow you to
36:06achieve states of attention and focus.
36:09My hope in giving you all this
36:10information in one single location is
36:12that you will be able to pick and choose
36:15which of these protocols you would like
36:17to incorporate into your attempts to
36:19improve your focus and concentration.
36:21Once again, the goal is to teach your
36:23brain that is to increase
36:26neuroplasticity in the neural circuits
36:28that allow you not just to focus but to
36:30refocus your attention. And I'd be
36:33remiss if I didn't mention that it's
36:35also critical to be able to defocus. I
36:38highly encourage people to take a period
36:40of time each day to daydream, to walk
36:42down the hall without looking at your
36:44phone, to not have to incorporate more
36:47sensory information, to not place
36:49increasing demands on yourself to focus
36:51and see and realize how having a period
36:54of deliberate decompression and
36:56defocusing can allow your brain to focus
36:59so much better. when you do decide to
37:01return to a bout of focus, concentrated
37:04work or physical work. So, thank you
37:06once again for joining me for today's
37:07discussion all about the mechanisms and
37:09especially the tools for enhancing
37:11concentration and focus. And last but
37:14certainly not least, thank you for your
37:16interest in science.

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