CBD Oil For Improved Focus And Concentration
20 August 2021Our jobs, our studies, and even our hobbies all require our mental focus and concentrated attention. Without these, we would not be able to complete a single task. Yet in spite of the importance of focused attention, we often find it hard to keep our attention concentrated on the task at hand. These days, there always seems to be something waiting to distract us. Social media and news updates are particularly good at disrupting our focus, bit colleagues and friends often do a good job at this as well, as do kids, pets, and a host of other everyday distractions. In this blog, we zoom on on what concentration and focus mean, and how CBD Oil may help us improve them.
How Mental Focus Works
Have you ever watched with envy at someone reading a book on a crowded train compartment, or your friend who manages to devore a few hours to her studies every night? Ever wondered why they just seem able to focus among all the usual noise and clamour, and the chores that compete for our attention? Ever noticed how you get distracted just like that; by the weather outside, a newsfeed update, or a friend trying to get in touch? If you have, then you are not alone: many people struggle to stay concentrated on any task they have to complete.
Concentration, or mental focus, is a complex phenomenon. First off, it’s good to know the distinction between two types of focus: voluntary and automatic focus of attention. In the case of voluntary attention, you consciously decide to focus on a specific task. This happens under your own conscious control, through an focused effort of willpower. This could be a paper you have to finish for work, for instance, or some sort of household chore like the laundry. You really need to get yourself in motion, and direct your attention on completing this task.
Can CBD Oil Help Improve Voluntary Focus?
Then there is automatic focus. This does not take conscious effort, but it is also beyond your voluntary control. Your attention is drawn automatically by an external event or stimulus, such as someone calling your name or a bird whistling outside your window. This marks an important distinction between both types of attention: you need voluntary focus to complete a task you actively want to finish. Any distractions will interfere with such voluntary focus.
Brain scans indicate that these forms of mental focus are located in different parts of the brain. Conscious focus can shut out the other type of concentration by interfering with the associated brain structures. You can’t use both at the same time. Automatic focus of attention on distraction halts voluntary focus on what you were trying to do. Then question then becomes whether CBD Oil can help improve voluntary focus, or instead reduce the distracting type of automatic concentration.
Focus Takes Effort
Focusing attention on something results in additional glucose being directed to the brain to fuel the activity, This is an active effort that will make you feel tired. Although distraction can be a nuisance we prefer to avoid, it can also hold the advantage of giving the brain a bit of a break. This is why we sometimes find ourselves staring out the window, or listening to that bird chirping away. We are simply giving our brain structures involved in voluntary focus the respite they need.
Voluntary concentration sounds as if it is all about our free will, and that is actually what happens. The crucial part is mustering the willpower to complete a certain task, whether it’s that email for work or the puzzle you’re solving in your spare time. You are the one who wants to consciously focus on accomplishing the task.
Achieving the required level of concentration becomes easier if we find these tasks fun and interesting. It makes it easier to get in a state of ‘flow’, allowing us to hang on to the intended level of attention. Reaching such a state of flow takes about 15 minutes on average, though. And to make matters worse, any distraction by a phone call or WhatsApp message will disrupt the flow like a soap bubble bursting. So can CBD Oil help us turn the tide?
How CBD Oil Can Help Improve Your Focus
Is your focus not what you’d like it to be? There are several reasons why focusing on any given task may prove difficult. Stress, lack of sleep, and too many distractions are just a few of the most common causes. Fortunately, cannabidiol in CBD Oil can have positive effects on each of these factors.
The Effects Of Stress
Stress has a decidedly negative impact on the ability to focus. In times of stress, the body increases cortisol production. This hormone prepares the body to fight, but it also drains the brain of energy needed to focus on tasks or coherent thought. That makes it very difficult to complete complex, demanding tasks in stressful times.
CBD has a soothing effect. By cooperating with the body’s own endocannabinoid system, cannabidiol can influence our nerves, hormone system, and emotions. CBD makes it easier to relax and calm down both on a mental and a physical level. Most people experience less brooding and ruminating thoughts, less anxiety, and improved physical relaxation. This is one way in which CBD Oil can help us improve our focus and concentration.
CBD And Sleep
Sleep is another major factor in the way our brain functions. After a day of mental exertion, your brain needs to recharge by getting a good night’s sleep. If sleeping problems are interfering with your mental focus, then CBD Oil can help you improve it in many cases. It can restore balance to your sleeping patterns as well as bringing a greater sense of calm to help you fall asleep faster. The analgesic effects of CBD can be useful in this regard too. If pain keeps you awake, or disrupts your ability to focus in general, CBD Oil can help you improve that focus in direct and indirect ways.
Improving Attention And Focus With CBD Oil
ADHD is a condition that severely limits people’s ability to concentrate. Research has demonstrated that CBD Oil can help relieve the symptoms of hyperactivity and thereby improve focus. Although studying the links between CBD and its role in concentration and focus is a complicated affair, important steps have been made towards conclusive scientific evidence in recent years. One 2015 study showed, for instance, that CBD can help improve facial recognition, indicating better focus and concentration on a specific task. Findings such as these call for further investigation of how CBD Oil may help improve focus in general. However, while we wait for these results, we keep hearing more accounts of the direct and indirect ways in which CBD Oil helps people improve their voluntary focus and concentration; whether at work, in school, in sports, or in traffic.
Of course, CBD Oil, Gummies, or Tablets are no point-and-click solution for all problems surrounding concentration. After all, focus is a skill first and foremost, which implies it can be improved by training. That’s why it is always a good idea to look at your work or study environment and see what improvements you can make for yourself. Practice by trying to gradually maintain your focus for increasing periods of time. Mindfulness and meditation techniques can be very helpful here.
And don’t forget: distractions aren’t always a bad thing. They give your brain some time to unwind. Just try too make sure you are the one who is in control – that way, you’ll be the one deciding when to focus your attention and when to be distracted instead.
