10 Natural Remedies for Focus & Attention

10 Natural Remedies for Focus & Attention

It is no secret that our society has become more and more distracted. For many people, the ability to focus on something for long periods of time can be a struggle. The lack of focus can impact your life in various ways- from not being able to accomplish tasks at work or school, to feeling like you are spinning your wheels with nothing getting accomplished at home. It seems like we're constantly being pulled in different directions and multitasking becomes the norm. This blog post will discuss 10 natural remedies for focus and attention (specifically Bach flower remedies) as well as tips on how to improve concentration at home.

In a world where we are all becoming increasingly busy, focus is even more important. With lack of attention and concentration being the new normal, it's hard to know how to improve our ability to stay on task without turning into obsessive workaholics or living in isolation from everyone else! The good news is that there are natural remedies for focus and attention that can help us manage our mental state and improve the quality of life for everyone.

Understanding lack of cognitive function: the first step to improving concentration

The first step in improving your ability to concentrate is understanding what might be causing you difficulty focusing or maintaining attention. Often people are unaware of how much stress they are under or feel overwhelmed with everything they have to do. This can lead to feelings of anxiety, which in turn increases the likelihood that you will feel distracted and unable to focus on anything.

Lacking concentration

Another common cause of lack of attention is depression or feeling overwhelmed with life in general. If you are struggling with depression, one of the symptoms can be a lack of concentration and focus. This is because when we're feeling down, it's hard to muster up the energy to do anything. Everything seems like an effort and even simple tasks can feel impossible. In addition, many people suffering from depression have difficulty sleeping, which only exacerbates the issue.

If you're struggling with depression, it's important to seek help from a medical professional as soon as possible. Depression can have serious consequences if left untreated and there are many medications that exist to treat this condition. Alongside medication though, natural remedies for focus and attention can be a great way of improving concentration at home!

Natural remedies for focus and attention

There are many different natural remedies for focus and attention that can be used depending on the person's needs. In this article we're going to discuss how Bach flower remedies can support focus and attention for kids and adults and can be a natural way to increase attention span and improve cognitive function.

What about ADHD?

ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It is a mental disorder that can cause problems with focus, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness. ADHD symptoms can vary from person to person and often depend on the age of the individual. For kids, common symptoms include difficulty sitting still in class or paying attention, fidgeting, and being impulsive. ADHD symptoms can also include interrupting others, not listening when spoken to directly, and getting bored easily with tasks that are repetitive or require a lot of focus.

For adults ADHD symptoms are often harder to spot because many people learn coping strategies for hiding ADHD in adulthood. Common ADHD symptoms for adults may be forgetfulness, restlessness or boredom with repetitive tasks, daydreaming during activities that require focus. Some people may also have trouble following conversations and connecting ideas together to form a coherent line of thought.

Understanding ADHD symptoms

It's important to remember that there are many ADHD symptoms , not just the ones listed above. It's also important to remember that ADHD symptoms can vary from person to person. If you think you are struggling with ADHD, the first step is understanding what may be causing your difficulty focusing or concentrating.

The good news about ADHD symptoms is there are natural remedies for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Amongst many other coping strategies and natural remedies, Bach flower remedies can also support focus and attention.

If you are struggling with ADHD symptoms, it's important to seek help from a medical professional as soon as possible. There are many medications that exist to treat ADHD, but natural remedies can also be a great way of improving concentration at home!

What are Bach flower remedies?

Bach flower remedies are a type of natural remedy that use flowers to help restore balance to the body. There are 38 different remedies that can be used for various mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, sleep, motivation as well as focus and concentration.

Dr Edward Bach was a 19th century English doctor who discovered that natural treatments might help with emotional issues. He began his work in the 1930s and created 38 natural remedies made out of flowers, one for each emotion, as part of it. They're comparable to homeopathic medicines. Dr Bach originally worked within homeopathy before developing his own system that focused exclusively on patients' emotional issues as a way of supporting both mental and physical health.

Bach flower remedies are completely natural with no nasty ingredients and are a gentle and safe approach to emotional wellbeing and mental health. They can be used alongside conventional medicine, or by themselves. They are taken as drops under the tongue or in water, 4 times a day.

Mindful Remedies

Which are the best flower remedies for focus and attention?

Read through the below Bach flower descriptions and see which most sound like you or your child.

Clematis

Clematis is for the daydreamers of the world who are lost in though and absentminded. They have so much focus on their future dreams and plans, they are completely distracted and unable to focus on the present. They live in a fantasy world and are very idealistic. Often they seem half asleep and can seem quite confused and dreamy. Sometimes they appear to have a lack of vitality about them, though they rarely show any anxiety or aggression. They can have poor spacial awareness and often bump into things.

Scleranthus

The Scleranthus person can't make up their mind and are constantly dithering between two possible thoughts or ways forward. They can become paralysed due to indecision and have trouble concentrating. They have a lack of inner balance and are prone to nervous breakdowns. They have extreme fluctuating moods and mood swings. They can't concentrate as their mind constantly jumps from one topic to another.

Crab Apple

Crab Apple is a complex remedy. It is the cleansing remedy and helps to cleanse to body of negative thoughts such as self-disgust or self-dislike. One aspect of a person who needs this remedy is that they get overly stuck into small, insignificant detail and can't them see the bigger picture or focus on other things as they're obsessed with these insignificant detail. For example these people are often very house proud and can't focus on anything if they see a cushion out of place. These people are very sensitive to order and also dislike all forms of dirt.

Impatiens

The Impatiens person is impatient and does everything in a rush. They often experience tension due to such rapid mental activity. They can quite often be irritable and flare up with people who don't do things as quickly as they like. Their impatience can sometimes lead to sloppy mistakes in work or exams, for example if they rush over an exam question without reading it properly.

White Chestnut

White Chestnut is for constant mental activity and mental arguments with oneself, with unwanted thoughts constantly whirling around, often causing problems with sleep. This mental hyperactivity leads to a lack of concentration as their brain cannot focus on any one thing at a time.

Hornbeam

The Hornbeam person is mentally weary and just can't face starting a task. They have a Monday morning feeling every day and struggle to get out of bed and get motivated. They feel deprived of mental stimulation or something new and exciting to give them a spark in life and mind. However, when something interesting comes along they get a new lease of life and energy.

Walnut

Walnut, like Crab Apple, has a number of different aspects to it. It is traditionally seen as a supportive agent for change, helping people transition through different or difficult stages of life. However, it also helps protect from outside influences and particularly for those who are oversensitive to outside thoughts, ideas, people or atmospheres. In terms of focus it can help to protect oneself from outside influence and keep one on their true life course, not deviating from it due to being distracted by other people or ideas.

Chestnut Bud

Chestnut Bud is for people who don't learn from their mistakes. They make the same errors over and over and seem slow to learn lessons from life. When an event has occurred they don't then take away the learnings from it or they quickly forget them. They prefer to rush into new things without letting the lessons from a past experience take effect. This can impact on attention and being able to focus on the present enough to be able to learn and move forward.

Cerato

People who need Cerato have a lack of confidence in their decision making and as such constantly ask other people for their opinions and distrust their own judgement. They can drive people nuts with their constant questioning! They can also often be led astray by the opinions of others not staying true to their own wishes. They can sometimes appear gullible or foolish and have a tendency to imitate.

Wild Oat

Wild Oat is for people uncertain about what to do with their life. They are talented and ambitious but can't decide on a future direction for themselves. This remedy will help them to focus on a career direction and make up their mind on how they want to live their live and ambitions they want to pursue.

Making up a remedy

If you think any of the above resonated and you want to make up a remedy, you can do so on our remedy page for focus which includes all the remedies listed above for you to add a create your own bottle.

Where can you get them and how much does it cost 

We offer all 38 flower essences, and you may mix and match them as many times as you want. A bottle costs £19, or you may book a one-on-one consultation for £49. This includes a 50-minute online consultation during which we go through your concerns in depth and discover insights that might help you choose the best

Other home remedies for focus and attention

Food sensitivities

In addition to the effects of stress on our ability to focus, another common reason for lack of concentration is food sensitivities. When we eat foods that our body doesn't agree with, it can be hard to think straight! Allergies and intolerances are very common and can cause a wide variety of symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, headaches and digestive issues.

Many parents see their kids struggling to concentrate in school but don't understand why it's happening. If you suspect that your child has a food sensitivity to dairy, gluten, sugar, artificial food colours / food dyes or another common allergen and is experiencing these symptoms, try finding a food sensitivity test or an elimination diet to see if this helps.

Diet and stabilising blood sugar levels

Another factor that can affect our ability to focus is consuming a healthy diet. When we eat sugary or processed foods, our blood sugar levels spike and then drop shortly afterwards, leading to feelings of fatigue and brain fog. On the other hand, if we eat a balanced diet and eat protein and healthy fats, our blood sugar levels will be more stable and we're more likely to have sustained energy throughout the day.

Brain foods

As well as eating foods that help balance our blood sugar levels, there are also some specific 'brain food' that can support thinking, concentration and brain health. These include omega-rich fish such as salmon or mackerel, berries like blueberries or strawberries which contain antioxidants to boost memory and brain function, spinach for folate (vital for memory) and nuts like almonds or Brazil nuts for magnesium (which is beneficial for cognitive function).

In addition to natural remedies and lifestyle changes, it's important to remember that everyone is different and what works for one person might not work for another. If you're struggling with focus and concentration, experiment with some of these tips and see which ones help you the most.

Brain food

Improve memory & flex your brain

A good way to think about it is that our brains are like muscles- if we don't use them, they get weak! In order to improve focus and concentration, it's important to exercise your brain by doing things like puzzles, reading, or learning new skills.

Stop distractions such as social media and smartphones

There are a few things that we can do to help us stay focused when working or studying. One is to set some ground rules for ourselves- for example, deciding that we will only check our phones once every hour, or not looking at social media until we've finished our work. Another trick is to physically remove ourselves from the distractions- for example, working in a different room or going for a walk outside. Finally, it can be helpful to have some kind of reminder to keep us on track- for example, setting a timer to work for 50 minutes and then taking a five minute break, or using an app that blocks websites like Facebook and Twitter while we're trying to focus.

Promoting healthy levels of cortisol

Cortisol is a natural hormone that helps our body deal with stress. When we're chronically stressed, though, it can be hard on the body and brain- leading to memory problems, anxiety or depression as well as difficulties focusing. It's important to try and keep cortisol levels stable and promote healthy stress-relief methods such as exercise, meditation or yoga.

How sleep can impact on focus and concentration

Getting a good night's sleep is crucial for our overall health and wellbeing, and this includes our ability to focus and concentrate. When we don't get enough sleep, not only are we more likely to feel tired and drained, but also our concentration can suffer. This is because during sleep our brain consolidates memories and processes information from the day, so if we're sleep-deprived our brain is going to be less effective at doing this.

There are a few things that we can do to help us get a good night's sleep, such as sticking to a regular bedtime routine, avoiding caffeine and alcohol before bed, and keeping our bedroom cool and dark. If you're struggling to get a good night's sleep, it might be worth speaking to your doctor about what else you can do or trying our flower remedies for sleep.

How can you gain better focus and attention in everyday life?

In conclusion, there are a lot of natural remedies that you can use to improve focus and concentration. Some good methods include diet changes, practicing cognitive function and blocking out distractions. Additionally, you can help your cortisol levels stay stable through stress relief techniques such as exercise or meditation/yoga which will also benefit the body in other ways.

If you want to try Bach flower remedies, check out our focus page for all the remedies listed above which you can add to make a personalised remedy bottle.

If you're struggling with focus and concentration, experiment with some of these tips and see which ones work best for you. If you're really struggling you might want to seek professional medical advice.

Thank you for reading!

 

 

 

 

about the author

Since 2021, Lucy Edwards, a qualified Bach Flower Practitioner and the driving force behind Mindful Remedies, has connected with clients across the world. Crafting thousands of personalised remedies, Lucy has supported individuals' emotional wellbeing, shipping remedies to far-flung places like the USA, Thailand, and Australia.

Lucy is readily available for conversations, offering personalised advice to guide you on the path to holistic wellness. It's important to note that she's not only qualified but also registered with the Bach Centre, ensuring that every consultation and remedy adheres to Dr Bach’s original guidelines for expert care and efficacy.