As I’ve gotten older I’ve fallen into this problem but also climbed out of it. It is worrisome that it is permanent, but it likely isn’t. There were several things about my life that I changed that helped me regain my focus and deep concentration abilities.
First was reducing TV, social media, and just scrolling internet news. Doing those things all day was training my brain to have a 1 second attention span. A vacation, if used to just chill out and do boring things for hours at a time can help snap you out. Your body and mind don’t want to live in that frenetic state so your stress will reduce too.
Diet and exercise is also important in making your body run as it was designed and helping your brain to be in a more relaxed, nourished state that will give you more mental stamina. Exercising first thing in the morning is good, but anytime you find your brain conking out is a good time for a run and often i’ve felt better immediately. Cardio helps me, I don’t know about weight training.
Diet is very important, and if you eat lots of carbs, especially late in the day you probably aren’t sleeping well and you might have high blood sugar that is impacting your ability to concentrate. Reducing carb intake, eating good breakfasts and light dinners, and not eating for several hours before sleeping (go to bed hungry, you will sleep much better and feel better in the morning) can make a big difference. If you work remotely and get drowsy after eating and you can take a nap early in the day, go for it!
Also just doing whatever it takes to calm yourself down and sleep long and deep night after night can help a lot.
At this age it is also a very good idea to get blood work done to see if there is any imbalance which could be affecting your well-being.
Finally, like muscles our brain seems to atrophy over time and strengthen as you use it. If you’ve been coasting for a while and haven’t had a real challenge, it might take a couple of weeks of frustration before you rebuild that mental stamina.
All of these life changes are very difficult to do at first, but once you make the change and feel the effects it becomes a lot easier and you feel so much better. I’ve done everything I mentioned here and gotten back my ability to learn and focus to a similar level as my younger self.
First was reducing TV, social media, and just scrolling internet news. Doing those things all day was training my brain to have a 1 second attention span. A vacation, if used to just chill out and do boring things for hours at a time can help snap you out. Your body and mind don’t want to live in that frenetic state so your stress will reduce too.
Diet and exercise is also important in making your body run as it was designed and helping your brain to be in a more relaxed, nourished state that will give you more mental stamina. Exercising first thing in the morning is good, but anytime you find your brain conking out is a good time for a run and often i’ve felt better immediately. Cardio helps me, I don’t know about weight training.
Diet is very important, and if you eat lots of carbs, especially late in the day you probably aren’t sleeping well and you might have high blood sugar that is impacting your ability to concentrate. Reducing carb intake, eating good breakfasts and light dinners, and not eating for several hours before sleeping (go to bed hungry, you will sleep much better and feel better in the morning) can make a big difference. If you work remotely and get drowsy after eating and you can take a nap early in the day, go for it!
Also just doing whatever it takes to calm yourself down and sleep long and deep night after night can help a lot.
At this age it is also a very good idea to get blood work done to see if there is any imbalance which could be affecting your well-being.
Finally, like muscles our brain seems to atrophy over time and strengthen as you use it. If you’ve been coasting for a while and haven’t had a real challenge, it might take a couple of weeks of frustration before you rebuild that mental stamina.
All of these life changes are very difficult to do at first, but once you make the change and feel the effects it becomes a lot easier and you feel so much better. I’ve done everything I mentioned here and gotten back my ability to learn and focus to a similar level as my younger self.