It’s frustrating when you try to hunker down to tackle a project, only to have your mind wander. If this happens more than you’d like, new research has a solution: You can “train” your brain to be more focused.
That’s the major takeaway from clinical trial results published in the journal JMIR Serious Games. The study found that regularly playing specific games can help ramp up your ability to pay attention in the future.
Of course, struggling with focus can be a sign of an underlying health condition, like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). If this is a constant issue for you, it’s important to talk to a healthcare provider for an evaluation. But if you suspect that you have more run-of-the-mill issues with paying attention, there are a few things to keep in mind. Here’s what the study found, plus how to put it to work for you.
Just 30 minutes a day can have a big impact.
The study, which was led by neurology researchers at McGill University and published in the journal JMIR Serious Games, split 92 people aged 65 and up into two camps: One group played brain-training games for 30 minutes a day over 10 weeks, while another played games for entertainment. The researchers used positron emission tomography (PET) scans, along with a radioactive tracer to measure the production of a chemical called acetylcholine in the participants’ brains at the start and end of the study.
Why? Acetylcholine is known as the “pay attention” chemical. When production of acetylcholine goes up, you’d theoretically be able to pay attention better.
The researchers discovered that people who played the brain-training games had a 2.3% increase in acetylcholine production in a part of the brain that’s crucial for learning, memory, attention, and executive function. But people in the control group didn’t have a noticeable change. Worth noting: Acetylcholine production tends to decline with age, making this a nice perk.
This isn’t just for older adults.
While the study focused on older adults, the findings can still apply to people who are younger, Mouna Attarha, PhD, study co-author and senior research scientist at Posit Science, tells SELF.
“The training is driving biological change in the brain,” she says. “These exercises target the cholinergic system—the brain system that produces the ‘pay attention’ chemical, acetylcholine. That has a vast impact on the entire brain because acetylcholine affects many things, including cognition, learning, behavior, mood, and movement.”
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