Practices

Moving first does not only help you concentrate. It takes some of the heat out of being stuck, which is often the thing that ends the task.

For a lot of people the problem is not the maths, it is what happens inside them when the maths does not come immediately. That surge of frustration…

Hours of nothing, then panic, then three hours locked onto the wrong task, then dread, then a promise that tomorrow will be different. If that is your day, it is a known pattern and not a character flaw.

People post this shape as a joke and clinicians recognise it as an accurate description. Seeing it written down is often the moment something…

If a child is climbing the walls, green space helps most, a walk down a busy street helps a bit, and staying in the room helps least. Any of the three beats none.

The research on this puts them in that order rather than saying only a forest will do. A park, a scruffy playing field, the bit of grass behind the…

Slow movement practices seem to help mood, sleep and the general hum of stress. Bringing that background level down often does more for your concentration than trying to concentrate harder.

Running on a constant stress signal wears down exactly the part of you that plans, waits and holds a thought. So lowering the load is not a soft…