Distracted after just 8 seconds, anxiety and devices are the causes

The average time we can pay continuous attention to something is just 8 seconds: a survey of 1,000 American adults commissioned by the Wexner Medical Center and the Ohio State University College of Medicine reveals that stress and anxiety are the factors that contribute most to the reduction of the ability to concentrate (43%), followed by lack of sleep (39%) and digital devices (35%). Other contributing factors include boredom or lack of interest (31%); multitasking (23%); lack of physical activity (21%); poor diet/poor hydration (20%) and medical conditions such as ADHD (18%). Only 25% of respondents said they do not have problems concentrating.

“Stress, ruminating, and thinking about the same things over and over again can definitely affect your ability to concentrate and pay attention,” says Evita Singh, a psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Ohio State. “A lot of times when patients come to me they’re worried about their ability to concentrate, and there’s a good chance that’s because they’re very stressed or anxious. So we work to address that.”

Poor concentration can have long-term consequences. "When people are multitasking, when they have so many things on their minds to think about, they can feel exhausted," Singh explains. "And then it becomes really difficult to enjoy things, which can lead to depression or anxiety."

“There are many different factors that can lead to difficulty concentrating or attention problems,” Singh concludes. “But it’s also really important to be able to recognize that and at the same time give ourselves permission to not have to be ‘on’ and 100% focused all the time.”