Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/322467
WWW.CHANGINGL ANESDIGITAL .COM APRIL | CHANGING L ANES 3 our attention. Instead, we need to get in touch with our inner wild man by getting out into nature. In a 2008 study, participants were divided into two groups and both per- formed a 35-minute task that fatigued their focus. The two groups then went for a 50-minute walk — one group in a park, another in a busy city. When they re- turned, the participants had the strength of their voluntary attention tested. The group who took a walk in the park per- formed much better than the group who took a walk in an urban environment. The city-walkers' involuntary atten- tion was bombarded by stimuli (honking cars, billboards, people talking), and this in turn taxed their voluntary attention, which had to decide which of the stimuli to pay attention to and which to ignore. The involuntary attention of those who took a stroll in the woods, on the other hand, encountered only very mild stimu- lation ("Oh look, a squirrel."), and this gave their voluntary attention a real rest, so that it was ready for another round of cognitive challenges back at the lab. Mildly activating your involuntary attention with soothing stimuli while giving your voluntary attention a breather allows us to enter a state of "soft fascination" that truly feels great. I find it interesting that giving your voluntary attention a little something to feed on works better for refreshing your mind than, say, just sitting in a completely empty and quiet room. I think you can compare it to the idea of taking an "active rest" day after a hard workout that's left you sore; lying on the couch all day to re- cover leaves you tight, while doing a little light activity like walking or swimming actually loosens you up. Remove distractions. Unlike the mild stimulation of nature, noises in our everyday life – television, smartphone pings, crying babies – make a more "violent" grab at our involuntary attention; if you're passing a flashing billboard along the road, you're much more likely to instinctively turn to look at it than you are a stately oak. Working to ignore these plays for your involuntary attention in order to focus on the task at hand fatigues your voluntary attention, leaving you feeling scatter- brained, frazzled, and distracted. Instead of forcing your voluntary atten- tion to battle an onslaught of distracting invaders, beat them back with minimal effort by building a fort around your in- voluntary attention. Remove distractions from your environment: work in a quiet setting, don't leave the TV on in the back- ground, and turn off your smartphone notifications. If the limitless possibilities of the internet are ever attempting to scale your attention's walls, dump pots of hot oil on them by implementing the distraction-destroying tips in this article. What About Background Music and White Noise? If the mild stimulation of nature can be beneficial to our attention, but many everyday distractions can be detrimental to it, what about forms of stimulation that fall somewhere in-between, like back- ground music? Many folks (myself included) use back- ground music while they work to help them focus. But the research is split on whether it actually helps your attention span or hinders it. Researchers in Taiwan found that when we listen to music while work- ing, the music drains our attention. In the study, volunteers who performed a reading comprehension test in complete silence scored better than those listen- ing to background music. The research- Health Tips Continued 36 www.jobsfor teams.com JOBS for TEAMS | JobsForTeams 0614_HealthHelp.indd 3 5/6/14 4:35 PM