Essentials: Tools to Improve Your Focus & Concentration
In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explain how the neurochemicals epinephrine, acetylcholine and dopamine contribute to focus and concentration. I discuss tools for improving attention, including sleep, sound, structured work sessions, nutrition, caffeine and deliberate cold exposure. I also describe a brief daily meditation and visual focus exercises that train your ability to refocus when attention drifts. Additionally, I discuss the potential benefits and limitations of supplements, prescription treatments for ADHD, and why taking time to deliberately defocus supports concentrated work.
Articles
- Brief, daily meditation enhances attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation in non-experienced meditators (Behavioural Brain Research)
- Acute Stress Improves Concentration Performance (Experimental Psychology)
- Human physiological responses to immersion into water of different temperatures (European Journal of Applied Physiology)
- Association of L-α Glycerylphosphorylcholine With Subsequent Stroke Risk After 10 Years (JAMA Network Open)
This transcript is currently under human review and may contain errors. The fully reviewed version will be posted as soon as it is available.
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Focus Toolkit: Tools to Improve Your Focus & Concentration
Huberman Lab Essentials are short episodes focused on essential science and protocol takeaways from past full-length Huberman Lab episodes.
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