The #1 Science-Based Way To Improve Focus Starting Today | Anders Hansen

0:00Anders Hansen:Welcome to Live Well Be Well, a show to help high performers improve their health and wellbeing.

0:10Anders Hansen:What are the main things apart from taking our device away that our brain needs to kind of help focus today in a world which is pulling us further away from focus more so than ever before? Because I have ADHD and I struggle with focus with so much technology. But I find that when I give myself certain moments of breaks, like 90 minute bursts, or I remove things outside of the room and I get sunlight and I hydrate, it really does help my focus. But is there anything else on top of that that you can help with the brain to create more focus time?

0:46Sarah Ann Macklin:Exercise. But going back to focus, we never evolved to be focused. We evolved to survive and to constantly scan your surroundings. Is there something there, there, there, there, there, all the time? That was very important in a world where half of us died before they became teenagers. So that means that our focus should be easily broken. We are easily distracted, not because we're broken, but because we're functioning the way we should. And that means that we really have to be cautious about our focus. because focus for us is so important. That's when we get our best ideas. So we need to get rid of all the distractions.

1:23Sarah Ann Macklin:And by that, I mean, don't have the phone in the same room when you're studying. And another thing that we know is good for focus is actually exercise, because exercise makes you more focused, especially the hour after exercise. So when I write my books, I don't have the phone in the same room where I'm writing, because I know I am too easily distracted. So I will protect my focus. And I can just recommend to everyone to do that. And by that, I mean, again, have the phone in another room and make sure to exercise.

2:00Anders Hansen:Yeah, I've read a lot in your book about the frontal lobe and getting a lot more blood flow to that when you exercise. Why is that so important? I guess like getting people's brains to understand why exercise is so important for certain key areas of blood flow to the brain. What happens in the frontal lobe when we exercise?

2:18Sarah Ann Macklin:Exercise increases your heart rate and blood pressure because your body's muscles need more blood when you exercise. But it's not just the muscles that get more blood, the brain gets more blood and the blood flow to the brain seems to increase by about 20 % if we are physically active, if we exercise. And I was taught in med school that that was not the case. The brain's blood flow is constant, but that is not correct. That knowledge has been updated. So the brain gets more blood, and that's probably why it functions better during and after exercise. And then you must ask yourself, well, why then does the brain function that way?

2:56Sarah Ann Macklin:Because we don't need our cognitive functions when we go for a run. We don't need our creativity when we go to the gym. We don't need our focus when we are out running, etc. Well, again, we evolved for survival. We are still adapted to life as hunters and gatherers. And it was probably when our ancestors moved that they needed their cognitive abilities the most. It was then that they needed their focus during the hunt. It was then they needed to be creative and get new ideas. So the fact that the brain functions, the brain's functions improves by exercise is probably because when we moved, we needed those functions the most.

3:42And then exercise becomes, from our perspective, a way to hack evolution, a way to exploit the way that we have been built in order to function better in modern society.

3:53Sarah Ann Macklin:so i always tell my you know i get asked a lot of questions by students and they say okay how is what's the best way to study before an exam and i say go for a run or a fast walk for every day and the things that you will learn the hour after will stick better because memory is improved by exercise and the reason i get for that is probably blood flow increases to the brain and why well probably because it was when our ancestors moved that they saw new things they experienced new places they they new things happened them happened to them that they needed to remember and that's something that you could exploit by exercising today gosh it's so interesting that we built

4:38Anders Hansen:systems where we just don't move from our chair for eight hours it's the opposite of what our brain needs like we built schools for for kids to arrive at 9am and leave at three and retain all this information and you know I kind of sit about how I do my day not that I someone who has a desk job but so much of my work is done in front of a computer and so there's that that kind of like trade-off of how often should I be getting up from my desk to be doing something to make sure that my creativity and cognitive functioning is at its peak every like hour well the short answer

5:14Sarah Ann Macklin:is that the optimal amount of exercise for the brain is three times a week, 45 minutes every time, pulse raising every time. If you do that, three times 45, you get the long-term effects for the brain. And by that, I mean, you lower your risk of depressions, anxiety, and so on. If you do more than three times a week, 45 minutes every time, you get in better physical shape, but your brain does not get any additional benefits. However, there are also short-term effects from exercise, which last perhaps an hour, an hour and a half after exercise. And they are better memory. You're getting more creative during the hour after exercise.

5:58Sarah Ann Macklin:So based on that, you should probably try to do something every day. But don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Because remember, because this is hard. Everyone doesn't have an hour extra a day. As a doctor, I can definitely say that the biggest effect from exercise comes from someone who doesn't do anything when he or she is doing a little, like starting walking to work. Then you have huge effects. But if you have the marathon club running five minutes faster, that doesn't have any extra effect. So it's going from nothing to little. That's where you get it. And the ones who are completely sedentary, they are actually to congratulate because they have an untapped resource.

6:44Sarah Ann Macklin:You know, if they just started doing the little, they will see a big difference.

6:49Anders Hansen:I think it's that thing, right? It's just the constant build, but it's also making sure that you create space for this. I think that's one of the biggest things of making sure that you create some type of space so the habit can be stuck. Because we can have these like extremes, right? And if you don't have space enough, even if it's just getting up 20 minutes earlier to walk around the block or take your dog for a walk or do something where you're creating movement in your body, you've got to create space. I find that as I was setting my goals for this year, the moments when I failed the most is when I've tried to create too much.

7:24Anders Hansen:And I just can't retain it. Right.

7:26Sarah Ann Macklin:And I think going back to what you said about brushing your teeth, you don't make a decision every night. Should I brush my teeth or not? Well, I don't feel like it today. So you just do it. And in an ideal case, you should try to have exercise becoming something that you just do so that you don't need to negotiate with the lazy part of yourself, because the lazy part of yourself has very good arguments and for good reasons. We evolved not to use calories. So that's what I mean by try to make it something that you have to do without asking too many questions. And that could be walking to work, riding your bike to work instead of taking the bus.

8:10Sarah Ann Macklin:It could be getting used to walking in stairs, taking the elevator, etc. try to build it into your life so that you don't have to negotiate with this part of yourself that will always have superior arguments

8:27Anders Hansen:thanks so much for listening to hear the full episode there's a link in the description