What the Dickens?

"Today's children have very short attention-spans because they are being reared on dreadful TV programmes. They are not being educated for long attention-spans." So says Charles Dickens' biographer, Claire Tomalin in yesterday's Independent newspaper.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/every-pupil-should-read-dickens-says-minister-but-hes-too-hard-says-the-authors-biographer-6579525.html

I disagree. The ability to concentrate is innate, but like a muscle has to be flexed to extend its use, and reading Dickens is in fact a good way of helping our kids to do this.

Why?

Because Dickens writes in brilliant, episodic bursts designed to grab the attention with his larger-than-life characterisations, lots of dialogue, vivid descriptions and emotionally engaging plots. He wrote for the ordinary person, not the intellectual or the academic, and his storytelling reflects this making it more accessible than might be imagined at first glance. And, in spite of the possibly daunting extent of his books, the length of each chapter is actually quite short.

Great Expectations, for example, may be 440 pages long, but it's divided into 59 chapters, averaging 7.5 pages for each chapter. Any young person who can sit through a 30-minute episode of the BBC soap EastEnders will have no trouble romping through a few chapters, as a 15 year old I once coached found. He had to read Great Expectations for his English GCSE and was daunted by the task. How are you going to go about this, I asked? A chapter a day, was his initial, doeful suggestion. Pointing out that, given the number of chapters, this would take a while I suggested he read for as long as an episode of EastEnders a day, 30 minutes. Which he did, and discovered that he could easily do it and completed the whole book in his half term (7 day) break. He was delighted with himself, not least because he had enjoyed reading, and reading a classic like Dickens, and consequently found his GCSE work much easier having read the whole book. An additional pay-off.

So let's not patronise our young people and say they don't have what it takes to make reading Dickens possible. Instead, let's actively encourage them to read Dickens' novels for enjoyment and see them extend their ability to concentrate and improve their attention span.

And even if you've not read Dickens by the age of 11, there's still time. Dickens is one of those authors that can be read time and time again. His books are timeless in spite of their historical settings, because like any great fiction it is the lie we give to truth.

The Whitehall ll study - what to do?

The recently published Whitehall ll study, which focused on 7,000 British civil servants over a 10 year period, showed that amongst this group mental dexterity and brain power deteriorated earlier than was once thought.

There is no doubt that here in the Western world we are, on average, living longer, which creates an associated risk of age-related decline in our mental powers – but the news is not all bad. It was once thought older people lose thousands of brain cells every day, but this has now been contradicted by more recent studies. While neurons in some areas of the brain, like the basal forebrain, do decrease in number as we age, most neurons in the cortex are retained – while the hippocampus is capable of generating new cells until the day we die, if stimulated. Cell process can change, but this fine-tuning may result in gains in wisdom and patience.

While there is a sense of ‘use it, or lose it’ there are some effects of ageing on the brain that we can’t escape, because our bodies are deteriorating too. Our sensory organs – eyes and hearing, in particular – tend to deteriorate, too and with it the inclination to expose ourselves to new stimuli. The decline of other body systems will also have a similar effect. Our digestive system, for example, becomes less efficient at absorbing the nutrients we need from the food we eat, while the endocrine system becomes less efficient at responding to hormonal messages. Brain cells are also extremely sensitive to oxygen levels and, with a degree of arteriosclerosis typical of the ageing process, a reduced blood supply to the brain reduces the oxygen supply. A low-level but continuous oxygen deficiency will lead to a decline in neurons.

Without continuous external stimulation, new brain cell production slows down and with it brain plasticity because, as research has shown, it is the plasticity of the new brain cells that helps old brain cells function better. Neuroplasticity refers to the continued changes that can occur in the brain as the result of exposure to new experiences and learning opportunities, referred to by neurologists as ‘experience-dependent plasticity’. This was seen to occur after injury to the brain, where plasticity allowed new functional and structural changes to take place to compensate for the damaged area. This is what makes rehabilitation so important, and creates the possibility for regaining some, if not all, previously damaged function.

It was previously thought that the adult brain was hard-wired and no longer capable of new development. It had been thought that after critical periods of development, there would be no more change and that the sensory pathways were fixed, even while areas like the hippocampus – concerned with processing memory – continued to produce new neurons. Exposed to enough opportunities, it seems, we go on learning, process what we learn, and apply that learnt experience – all of which encourages the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus.

As we age, we tend to be exposed less to new experiences, become less active, and become less sociable so our opportunities, unless actively sought, for brain stimulation quite naturally decline. We are just less likely to try new things, so overall our opportunities for external stimuli decrease. But when older people are given tests that depend on vocabulary, general information and well-practised activities, they show negligible age-related deterioration. So while both low response times and short-term memory impairment contribute to lower scores on standard tests of intelligence for the elderly, removing this difference equals this out.

The Whitehall study shows that reasoning, memory and verbal fluency were the three main areas of cognitive ability affected. But when I read the following from India Knight’s piece in the Sunday Times on January 8^th 2012, describing what she was trying to do all at the same time, one could perhaps see why: “How can we be expected to remember anything at all, when we are multi-tasking to such an insane degree?” she wrote. “As well as wondering what to write about, I was also thinking about my elder son’s university offers; my younger son being late for school; how to re-hang the door of a kitchen cabinet that has come off its hinges; where to collect my daughter from… what to make for supper… I was also on Twitter, having six conversations at once and reading hundreds more, and the doorbell rang twice…” and so she goes on.

Six things that might help:

· stop multi-tasking, focus on one thing at a time

· eat nutritiously 3 times a day, sit down and relax while eating

· exercise – even a daily, 20 minute walk in natural daylight will help

· anxiety & depression create additional stress hormones that are neurotoxic: so address the worries in your life & learn to let go

· maintain good relationships with people you actually see & talk to

· sleep – good restful sleep is restorative, make it a priority every night

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/06/memory-loss-begins-at-45-says-study

You're really stressing me out!

Researchers from the University of Hawaii, led by Professor Elaine Hatfield, discovered that second-hand stress can be passed from person to person in the workplace - and it seems to be contagious.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/11/10/passive-stress-at-work-just-as-contagious-as-a-cold_n_1085758.html#s451010&title=Build_In_Planning

Washing your hands isn't going to deal with this sort of contagion, but recognising those personality types you work with that cause you stress may help.

"We call it 'people poisoning' and we describe the culprits as stress carriers," says Dr Chandra Patel, stress expert and author of The Complete Guide to Stress Management (Vermilion). "They induce stress in others without suffering it themselves."

Behavioural scientist Dr Robert Bramson has identified seven key personality types who cause difficulties and stress for those around them. Work out which category your tormentor fits into, the theory goes, and you can find coping strategies to reduce the stress they cause you.

1. Know-it-all experts ~ these can be divided into two types: those who might know what they are talking about and those who 'become' experts on the basis of very little information but present it with such authority that it's difficult not to feel overwhelmed by them.

2. Super-agreeables ~ they come across as good humoured and willing, but never deliver. They are exasperating because they agree everything in an effort to be liked, but constantly let you down.

3. Indecisive stallers ~ one of the most stress-inducing types, especially if you are dependent on their decision making to get your job done.

4. Pessimists ~ no matter what you say or how you present it, they always respond negatively and often respond with such conviction that it's difficult not to get hooked into their negative agenda.

5. Silent unresponsives ~ this type purposefully use silence to negatively control situations, undermining others, and it can be a form of passive aggression or a spiteful refusal to co-operate.

6. Hostile aggressives ~ basically these are the office bullies, who aim to get their own way by being hostile, using ridicule or sarcasm. Criticism tends to be personal and stress is induced by confusing, frustrating or even frightening you.

7. Complainers ~ constant whining while refusing to take steps to change those things they complain about is super stressful because they suck you in while ignoring helpful suggestions and wasting your time.

Whether it's your boss or a co-worker or someone who reports to you, identifying what it is about them that triggers a stressful response can help you see how to deal or avoid it.

It's also helpful to review your own behaviour, too and see what your default position is and how this might cause stress to those around you. None of us is infallible, all of us are human, but given how much time we spend at work - in the UK an average of 48 hours a week, way over the European standard - we owe it to each other to facilitate each other's and our own best use of time. Actively trying to reduce second-hand stress in the workplace helps us all concentrate and work better, more effectively and in less time.

Addicted to love... of Blackberrys, iPhones & other handheld devices!

Remember when someone called the Blackberry a Crackberry, apparently referencing its addictive properties? Emails, texts, Twitter & BBM are all great means of staying in touch - but do you ever feel that this virtual communication is dominating your life, getting in the way of what really matters - your real relationships with partners, family and friends?

Way back in 2005, a 19 year old from Paisley was treated for his addiction to electronic communication, which had cost him £4,500 in a year of sending around 100 texts a day, his job when he was sending up to 500 emails a day, and his relationship when his girlfriend could no longer cope with the barrage of messages.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2005/oct/15/news.mobilephones

And also in 2005, a study from Hewlett Packard expressed alarm that 62% of British adults appeared addicted to their email - even checking messages during meetings, after working hours and on holiday - behaviour we now mostly consider as normal!

Tom Stafford, lecturer in psychology and cognitive science at the University of Sheffield and co-author of Mind Hacks, identified what it is that makes this so addictive. "Both slot machines and email follow something called a 'variable interval reinforcement schedule' which has been established as the way to train in the strongest habits," he says. "This means that rather than reward an action every time it is performed, we reward it sometimes, but not in a predictable way. So with email, usually when I check it there is nothing interesting, but every so often there's something wonderful - an invite out or maybe some juicy gossip - and I get a reward."

Now you understand the psychology and how you've been snookered into this addictive behaviour, it might make it easier to resist. Not least because if you are trying to get something done - a book read, a movie watched, an essay written, homework done - these constant interruptions seriously restrict your ability to concentrate and, in the long term, add to your personal stress.

I have worked with teenagers who tell me that they just can't turn off their phones, day or night, for fear of missing out. And when I see someone texting during a movie I just think - why can't you allow yourself some time out, some uninterrupted "me" time, for just 90 minutes? Or couples in restaurants not talking to each other but checking their messages or Twitter alerts, unable to drag themselves away from the demands of this insatiable device, and I wonder how it was that the idle thoughts of someone you don't actually know became more important than those of the person you're with?

In 2008 it was reported that Madonna and her then husband Guy Ritchie slept with their Blackberrys under their pillows. She apparently said, "It's not unromantic - it's practical." Six months later the marriage was over.

There's no doubt that it's brilliant to be able to have such immediate communication when we need it, but sometimes it's important to literally switch off from the virtual world and re-engage with the real world, before we lose sight of what really matters.

Breakfast

A boiled egg with dippy toast fingers may not be your choice for breakfast, but its combination of protein and carbohydrate will set you up well for the day.

But if your idea of breakfast is a black coffee and a cigarette or a latte and muffin, en route to work, you could be doing your body and your brain a serious disservice.

"The body's natural reaction to low blood sugar is to compensate by increasing adrenalin output," says psychologist and director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP) Sally Goddard Blythe. "Such a biochemical combination can affect attention, concentration and impulse control. In the long term, sharp swings in blood sugar levels increase irritability, fatigue and bouts of hyperactivity."

Do you really need more stress in your life, detrimental to your body, your brain and - somewhat inevitably - relationships with those around you, from your family to your work colleagues?

Slow release carbohydrates, combined with some protein to further reduce insulin surges, provide the fuel you need to start the day. Not only that, you are less likely to get a desperate urge for a sugar hit mid morning, when grabbing a full fat latte and muffin 'snack' could earn you a quarter of your daily calorific intake.

So what to choose to break your overnight fast and get your day off to a good start? A boiled egg and wholegrain toast is an excellent choice. But porridge oats, with skimmed milk and fruit is another choice. Oatcakes and cheese, perhaps? A bagel and avocado? Skimmed, live yoghurt with apricots? My personal choice is a helping of rolled oats, sunflower seeds (high in zinc), a handful of nuts (walnuts for omega-3, brazil nuts for selenium, almonds for magnesium) for protein and blueberries (lots of vitamin C and antioxidant anthocyanin) with some skimmed milk.

And if breakfast is important for grown-ups, imagine how much more important it is for children whose smaller, growing bodies and higher energy needs demand regular, nutritious meals.

So if all else fails, as you rush for the door thinking breakfast is a luxury you don't have time for, at least grab yourself that ultimate in fast food - a banana. Your body and brain will thank you for it.

Don't try harder, try differently

If at first you don't succeed try, try and try again, goes the old adage - but doing the same old thing often yields the same old results and what is really needed is to try differently.

The same goes for concentration. Can you improve concentration by trying harder, or is trying differently what you need to do?

Often what we have to do doesn't really interest us; we find it boring and when we're bored our minds wander and we lack concentration. So on those occasions, what can we do differently? The answer lies in finding a way to create interest by sticking with it long enough to create context and points of reference that relates to something that will tweak our imagination and stimulate us to take the next step.

What we also know is that trying differently can create a change in the way the brain functions, and this could actually make it easier to concentrate. Even allowing for all the variables - personality, temperament, intelligence, age, etc. - you can change your brain's function by the way you behave, and your behaviour by the way your brain functions. "That's what learning is," says Professor Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Anything that changes behaviour changes the brain."

The suggestion here is that if you want to improve your concentration, try differently: change what you do and how you do it. Think about taking a different approach, one that allows your brain to engage, respond and make connections in a different way - the difference could just be turning off external distractions, focusing for five minutes longer than you usually give yourself, or not multi-tasking - but whatever the difference, see what a difference it could make to your ability to concentrate.

So don't try harder, try differently.

www.theartofconcentration.co.uk

Is being a stress junkie affecting your concentration?

The link between stress and concentration is an interesting one, and it’s worth taking a moment or two to understand what happens in your body and brain to prevent concentration when you’re stressed.

Confronted by circumstances we see as threatening in some way, our brain short-circuits conscious thought to 'red alert' mode. This automatic response is created by the amygdala, an almond shaped gland located deep within the mid-brain – and is a great response when faced with a sabre-toothed tiger, but not so useful when you discover your tax return has exceeded its return-by date.

We talk about something being gut-wrenching for a reason. The gut is also affected by the 'fight or flight' hormones generated in response to the amygdala’s red alert because, God knows, you’re not going to have time to eat when running for your life. Besides, you are going to need the blood supply concentrated in your legs rather than your stomach in order to get away fast, and your heart will need to pound to get it there. Plus which, your breathing rate rises to get that additional oxygen you’re going to need into your lungs. All of which is happening rather unnecessarily while you are sitting at your desk with those stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol flooding your body and compounding your panic further. Know the feeling?

Not only that, but when we get into long-term patterns of stress, it somehow re-sets our stress thermostat and it takes less to set off our red alert reaction. And, because we also have amazing powers of adaptation, we adapt to these constant, over-elevated levels of stress hormones as far as we can. It begins to feel 'normal' to be functioning in a constant state of stress. In fact, we can become almost addicted to it and seek to recreate the apparent comfort this known state creates, by which time we fit the label: stress junkie.

And while functioning in this way, sleep becomes difficult because those same stress hormones that can power your legs are also designed to keep you wide awake and running away from danger, not chilling out and drifting off happily into the land of Nod. Lack of sleep is itself very stressful. Result: more stress.

Now imagine functioning at full stressed throttle like this for days, weeks, months on end and its effect on your body and mind becomes clear. If you did the same to a high performance car, the phrase 'burn out' might come to mind. Long term stress just isn't sustainable without detriment to health. Great for acute situations where you may need to concentrate your physical and mental prowess to react to danger, stress is hopeless for sustained concentration or for enabling you to focus without the internal distraction of red alert warning signals going off.

Now it becomes clear why concentration, which is aided by a calm, collected mind, becomes tricky when we are stressed. So if you want to concentrate better and benefit from that, look at how to reduce the stress in your life.

Having identified the situation, what can you do? If you’ve been functioning in stress mode for a period of time, it’s hard initially to switch it off. Your body has got used to the feeling, so you may have to be quite deliberate in creating time to readjust, and consciously build in down time, either through non-competitive exercise, meditation or some other physical therapy that helps release you from the physical sensations of stress.

Once you begin to release the body from its grip, it becomes easier to release the mind from stress, improving its ability to concentrate. It may take time, but consciously doing so will pay dividends in terms of physical and mental wellbeing - and concentration.