Concentrating at Work: How to Keep your Focus

Let’s be honest: do you sometimes feel like a high-performance computer? You’ve got 18 tabs open at once, a video running in the background and where on earth is that strange music coming from? Our brain is our body’s control centre. It’s where lots of important processes run at the same time. Constant distractions, such as calls, push notifications or your colleagues disrupt these processes. By the end of the day, you’re worn out, but have achieved barely anything. We will show you how you can resume concentration and thus work more efficiently, be it in the office, in a control room or in an emergency call centre.

What interrupts our concentration?

How can we keep up our oh-so-important concentration levels for hours and even increase them? That depends on various factors. So to start with, we will show you which of these factors disrupts concentration.

  • Lack of sleep: How much sleep you need depends from person to person. For some, six hours is enough, but others simply can’t get going without their nine hours. However, studies have shown that seven hours of bed rest are optimal for an adult – especially if they regularly face physical and psychological strain.
  • Smartphones: Needless to say, if you look at your phone every five minutes, you cannot concentrate. So, where possible, turn your phone on silent, or turn it off. 
  • Social media: Scrolling through your timeline, checking your notifications and looking at the latest story from your favourite influencer... research has shown that intensive use of social media changes entire areas of the brain and completely nullifies your ability to concentrate. You should not spend more than an hour a day on Facebook, Instagram and others. 
  • Multitasking: In that past, multitasking was seen as a valuable skill. Nowadays, though, it is clear that while you can start a load of tasks, you cannot bring any of them to a satisfactory finish. It is more efficient (and less stressful) if you start and properly finish one job after the other. 
  • Time pressure: “I can only work under pressure” is a lie that we all tell ourselves from time to time. Good-old procrastination is one of the most common causes of unnecessary stress that ultimately disturbs concentration. It’s best to start tasks early and stay on the ball. 

How can I concentrate better at work?

You may have bad concentration, but that won’t always be the case. There are many ways you can effectively and sustainably improve it. One example is getting enough exercise. Sporting activities, like jogging, provide the brain with enough oxygen, which ensures that you can concentrate better at work. Moreover, you’ll improve your sleep, which will also help concentration. Here are a few more tips on how to improve your concentration.

Healthy diet: Our brain is a real gas guzzler: it consumes around 20% of all of our energy! And so it is extremely important that we give our brain the right nutrients. Fast food and energy drinks are not the way to go; they vastly increase our blood-sugar level. So yes, you will be able to concentrate better in the short term, but you’ll pay a high price for it in the medium term. A varied diet, with a lot of protein, vegetables and water, is a lot better. Rolled oats, for instance, are among the best foods for giving the brain healthy carbohydrates.

Drink a lot of water: If nothing happens at work without coffee and the coffee machine is broken, panic may break out among some colleagues. And yet water is much more important for concentration. Water is a primary component of living organisms and plays an important role in the whole body – including in the brain. All it takes is a slight lack of water and your concentration levels will decrease significantly. If you feel thirsty, you don't have enough water. So drink 2.5-3 litres of water or unsweetened tea per day. This will keep you hydrated and maintain your concentration.

Ergonomic workspace: A good workspace involves more than just a quiet environment and a tidy desk, it also involves ergonomics. This is because sitting at your workspace incorrectly – and doing so over several hours – can significantly influence your concentration. The solution is an ergonomic office chair. This will help you be more dynamic when sitting. What does that have to do with your concentration? It’s simple: if you frequently change your sitting position, you stimulate your circulation and metabolism; this ensures that your brain is properly supplied with blood. 24-Hour Chairs from StolComfort therefore feature a special mechanism that promotes movement while sitting. Professional chairs by StolComfort also help keep your back healthy. Why? If you are active when you sit, instead of static, the back will stay stretched out even when you sit for a long time and the intervertebral discs are not subjected to too much strain. This means you will be able to stay productive – especially when you need to – even for several hours when doing demanding activities and working shifts!

More focus and concentration at work

You see, you can do a lot to improve your concentration! A lot of the factors are beneficial to your health, from diet and sport to back health. Give it a go and try out one of our ergonomic 24-Hour Chairs. We will be happy to give you personal advice!