You walk into a restaurant to meet a friend and remember you
were supposed to meet somewhere else. You leave your boss's office
and, quick as that, forget the deadline she gave you for a new
project. You had your keys in your hand, you were just
holding them, and now they're gone -- again. What's going
on? Here, nine possibilities for why your mind is wandering, and
expert advice on how to get your concentration back.
Could You Have ADHD? Learn the
Symptoms
1. Your numbers are low. Fuzzy mindedness could
signal a vitamin or hormone deficiency, especially if you're also
feeling unusually tired. For example, hypothyroidism -- too-low
levels of thyroid hormone -- could be to blame, says Robert Orford, MD, consultant at the Mayo Clinic's
Preventive Medicine Division in Scottsdale,
AZ. "If there's a deficiency in thyroid hormone, metabolism
slows, which reduces blood flow and cellular function in various
parts of the brain," Dr. Orford says. B-12 deficiency and related
anemia can have similar symptoms. Most people get plenty of B-12 in
their diet, but an underlying condition such as Crohn's or celiac
disease can prevent your body from absorbing it.
Try this: Schedule an appointment for a physical
with a doctor who'll take time with you. Make a list of any other
health changes you've noticed that could help pinpoint the source
of your problems concentrating. "You want a comprehensive medical
exam, including blood tests," says Dr. Orford. Also ask your doctor
to test for cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, high
cholesterol, metabolic syndrome or prediabetes: if left untreated,
they can cause cognitive decline.
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Mind
2. Your hormones have gone haywire. If you're
nearing the end of your baby-making years, your inability to think
clearly may signal the start of perimenopause -- that run-up to
menopause when menstrual cycles become irregular and estrogen
drops. Lack of concentration is a common complaint of
perimenopausal women, says Kimberly Pearson,
MD, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for
Women's Mental Health. "They describe it as feeling fuzzy. That's
the word a lot of women use. They feel like their vocabulary is
diminishing, like they're not as sharp, not as crystal
clear."
Try this: If other signs point to perimenopause
(hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness), consider short-term
hormone replacement therapy to get you over
the hump. "Women who go on replacement notice such a shift," says
Dr. Pearson. "They say, 'Oh my God, I have my brain back.'" If HRT
is out because of the health risks involved, ask your doctor about
the possibility of taking a low-dose, concentration-boosting
stimulant such as Ritalin instead. "And exercise seems to help
everything," says Dr. Pearson.
How Hormones Affect Your
Health
3. You've changed your meds. Anti-depressants can affect
mood and concentration when you go on or off them. Antihistamines,
sedatives, and anti-anxiety medications can cause lingering
drowsiness, and antidepressants, beta blockers, and other medicines
can cloud your mind. People who take statins sometimes notice a
loss of mental clarity, says Dr. Orford. A daily dose of Coenzyme
Q10 may counteract this effect. As for sleeping pills --
please.
Try this: Write down all the meds you take or recently
stopped taking and review this list with your doctor. Ask if any of
them are known to cause concentration problems when people go on or
off them, or mix them with other medications, or take them long
term. Educate yourself about the drugs on your list so you can have
a more fruitful discussion. Go to the National Library of
Medicine's
PubMed Health,
MedLine Plus and
DailyMed Web sites for
good information.
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Can't Control
4. You're quitting smoking. Yaaay! Two things to remember
when you're tempted to cheat: 1. The more and longer you smoke, the
more gray matter you lose. That's proven. The sooner you quit, the
more you maintain. 2. Yes, you'll have trouble concentrating as you
go through nicotine withdrawal, says Christopher Kahler, PhD,
professor of behavioral and social sciences in the public health
program at Brown University. It's a common complaint. But that
passes, and the mental-health boost you get from quitting more than
compensates: You did what? You quit smoking? Wow. "There's a lot of
psychological benefit to it," he says.
Try this: The happier you feel when you tackle
quitting, the more likely you are to succeed, says Kahler. His tips
for boosting mood: Track three good things that happen to you each
day and write about them each night. Write a letter of thanks to
someone you never thanked for something and deliver it. If you can
spend some of the money you save by not smoking, skip the material
purchases and do something fun with a friend. Shared experiences
generate lasting happiness.
5. Your diet has deteriorated. What you eat can have a
major impact on mental clarity, says Laura
Middleton, PhD, assistant professor of kinesiology at the
University of Waterloo in Ontario. Bad eating habits increase your
risks of obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol and related ills
that can impair cognitive function, and being overweight or obese
makes it harder to stay active, which is essential for brain
health.
Try this: Middleton's motto is "If it's good for the heart
and cardiovascular system, it's good for the brain." She advises
sticking to the principles of the Mediterranean Diet: A diet high
in fish and vegetables and lower in meat, saturated fat and
processed foods. If sweets and other junk food are your downfall
and you're able to cut back, magic can happen: Brain fog, energy
crashes, hunger pangs may dissipate.
See 9 Easy Ways to Clean Up Your
Diet
6. You think busy means fit. You may be incredibly
busy, but if you're stuck at a desk or behind the wheel of a car
most of the day, you won't be engaged in the kind of physical
activity your mind needs. To stay sharp, you need to keep moving.
Among other things, exercise increases production of a substance
called brain-derived neurotrophic factor that helps the brain
rewire itself and slows formation of plaques that accompany
Alzheimer's disease. Start exercising, and you could feel sharper
and more able to focus within a month. "It takes a few weeks to get
into it," says Middleton, "but then positive changes happen
quickly."
Try this: Shoot for 30 minutes of cardiovascular
activity three to five times a week. "If you can build to an hour,
that's great," says Middleton, and weight training also seems to
improve brain function. Middleton and her
colleagues found in a recent study that being active throughout the
day may do more to help keep your mind sharp as effectively as
purposeful exercising. "Anything that contributes to movement
matters -- doing chores, gardening, getting out of your chair to
stretch," she says.
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Pounds
7. You have anxiety overload. Your boss gave you a bad
evaluation and you know she has to cut staff, the IRS wants to
audit your taxes, and your doctor wants to order another round of
tests. And you wonder why you can't concentrate? Of course you
can't. That's how the brain responds to real or imagined threat. We
become hyper-alert to our surroundings ("Shhh! What's that?"), but
ask us to focus on a task or follow a conversation, and forget
it.
Try this: If you can't concentrate because you're
too busy worrying, stop and do something fun to clear your head,
says Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, PhD, professor and chair in the
department of psychology at Yale. Go for a walk, try a new recipe,
play with the dog. Now think of one small thing you can do to
address your worry and do it, even if it's just talking to a
friend. Taking small, positive actions reduces the psychological
stress that destroys concentration and bathes the brain in harmful
stress hormones. Taking action can also stimulate healthier brain
function. A 2009 study found that when people suffering from
depression were helped to take small steps toward re-engaging in
life, not only did they start feeling better but areas of their
brain associated with motivation and pleasure that had been
under-active revved back up. "And this is without medicine," says
lead author Gabriel S. Dichter, PhD, assistant professor of
psychiatry at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School
of Medicine. "Just changing behavior jump-started the brain to
function in a healthier way."
10 Silent Signals You're Too
Stressed
8. Your plate overfloweth. You work ten-hour days
and stop to check on your widowed mom on your way home. You're
chairing the church fundraiser again this year because you did such
a great job last year and everybody begged you to do it again.
You've got to get the invitations out for your daughter's birthday
party, the dog needs to go to the groomer, you need a haircut, and
your in-laws are arriving next weekend for their annual visit. Even
if you're not super-worried about any of these things, having too
much on your to-do list could mean you're setting yourself up for
distractions and forgetfulness. "It happens to men and women," says
Dr. Orford. "They have so much going on they can't keep up. Their
minds get overloaded."
Try this: "I try to take regular little breaks," says
Nolen-Hoeksema. "I'll program my Blackberry to buzz me to stop for
five minutes and breathe and regroup. It really helps me take a
step back, which can be hard to do, and often I'll realize, 'I
could delegate that,' or 'This isn't that important' or 'I can put
this off.'" Carrying a written reminder to "Stay focused" or "Get
back to Number 1," whatever that means to you, can help, too.
Saying "no" may not come naturally but you can build your skills.
"It takes practice and realizing that the world doesn't cave in,"
says Nolen-Hoeksema. Working with a buddy helps. Hers is her
husband. "We have a deal that when I say 'no,' he gives me a treat.
If it's a small thing, it might be a candy bar. If it's a big
thing, he takes me to dinner. Or I just email him and say, 'I said
"No,"' and he emails back, 'Congratulations!'"
7 Surprising Ways to Boost Your
Brain
9. It's just the way you're wired. If a new job or
relationship is making your problems with focus, organization,
time-management and follow-through newly apparent to others, but
the truth is they're not at all new to you -- you've been
struggling with them all your life -- you could have undiagnosed
Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). You don't
have to be hyper to be a candidate, says J. Russell Ramsay, PhD,
co-director and co-founder of the Adult ADHD Treatment and Research
Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Symptoms can take many forms, including impatience,
distractibility, forgetfulness, impulsiveness, and having trouble
finishing tasks.
Try this: Rate yourself on the World Health Organization's
Adult ADHD Self-Report
Scale. If you score high, "it's worth following up with
a specialist," says Ramsay. Visit
add.org or
chadd.org to find one in
your area, or ask a specialist in childhood ADHD for a referral.
Meds work, and finding the right one is your first priority. But
old habits and defenses die hard. Cognitive behavioral therapy can
help you replace them with healthier coping skills. Focused
attention meditation -- focusing on a sound, image or your breath
and bringing attention back to that focus when it strays -- helps,
too. A 2009 study found that new meditators who practiced daily for
three months were more able to stay focused and dismiss
distractions with less effort and without making their brains work
so hard.
Tell us: When do you find your attention wandering the
most?
--By Gini Kopecky Wallace, Prevention