By: Diana Kelly
A warm, sunny day may have you wishing you were outside, but that's not the only distraction causing you to lose focus. Here's how to regain it.
Meditation can do wonders for the mind, but no amount of time spent on the cushion is going to help you get your focus back if an underlying health issue or poor lifestyle choices are throwing you off track. Use this checklist of mind-messing reasons to crack the nut why you've got the attention span of a squirrel and what you can do about it.
1. You're suffering from seasonal allergies.
If you're one of 40 to 60 million Americans who experience allergic rhinitis symptoms, like a stuffy nose, itchy eyes, congestion, and fatigue, you may also have decreased concentration and focus due to your allergies, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
Strengthen your attention: Check the day's breathing conditions on Weather.com's Allergy Tracker. If the pollen count is high, keep windows closed to reduce your exposure to those outdoor allergens, like pollen, in your home. Also, wash bedding weekly to minimize exposure to dust mites, which also cause allergy symptoms. Since some antihistamines may make you sleepy, talk to your allergist about the best treatments that will help alleviate symptoms and not make you feel "out of it."
2. You have food sensitivities.
Do you regularly feel bloated, fatigued, and moody after eating a particular food like ice cream or a bagel? This could be a sign that you have food sensitivities, possibly to dairy or gluten.
Strengthen your attention: Amy Shah, M.D., puts patients with these complaints on an elimination diet to identify the culprit of this discomfort. A 2013 study published in the journal Psychiatric Quarterly found that people who have celiac disease or gluten sensitivities may have neurological complications that include attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. While celiac disease has to be diagnosed by a doctor, if you suspect a specific type of food makes you feel groggy or impacts your ability to focus, consider removing it from your diet completely and see how you feel after a few weeks.