Wondering how to improve attention span? Start with the basics: get enough sleep, move your body most days, do one task at a time, cut notifications, and practice short mindfulness sessions. There's no single trick, and no reliable "average attention span" to beat. Small changes to your day, kept up for weeks, are the realistic route.
This guide sticks to what reliable sources actually support, and it starts by clearing up a famous statistic.
You've probably heard that people now have an eight-second attention span, shorter than a goldfish's nine. A BBC investigation traced the figure to a 2015 report by Microsoft Canada, which credited it to a website called Statistic Brain. When the BBC contacted the sources that website listed, neither could find any research behind the numbers.
Attention researchers told the BBC that the idea of an average attention span is pretty meaningless. "It's very much task-dependent," said Dr Gemma Briggs, a psychology lecturer at the Open University. As for goldfish, a fish behaviour expert explained that they're used as a model for studying learning and memory.
That's good news. If your attention depends on the task and the conditions around it, you can change those conditions.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says that when you're short on sleep, you might have trouble learning, focusing and reacting. If you're fighting to stay alert, more willpower won't fix it. Keep a steady wake-up time, give yourself time to wind down, and keep the phone out of bed.
The CDC says some brain health benefits of physical activity happen right after a session of moderate-to-vigorous activity, including less short-term anxiety for adults. Over time, regular activity helps keep thinking, learning and judgment sharp as you age, and helps you sleep better. Try a brisk 10-minute walk before a task that needs focus.
Switching between tasks has a cost. The American Psychological Association explains that each switch may take just a few tenths of a second, but those costs add up when you switch back and forth. One of the researchers has said these brief mental blocks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone's productive time. The more complex the tasks, the more time people lost.
Keep one document or tab open for the task in front of you.
Answer email and messages in set batches, not as they arrive.
Keep a scrap of paper nearby for stray thoughts, and come back to them later.
Simple pairings are a different story. As the APA puts it, throwing in a load of laundry while talking to a friend will probably work out all right.
Every notification is an invitation to switch tasks. Go through your notification settings and keep only the ones from real people. Turn on a Focus or Do Not Disturb mode for work blocks, and put the phone out of sight, not just face down.
NIH News in Health describes mindfulness as becoming aware of your thoughts, feelings, sensations and environment, and observing them without judgment. It also admits that paying attention to what's going on right this second can be hard. That's the practice: notice your mind has wandered, then come back.
One exercise from the article: breathe in through your nose for a count of 4, hold for 1 second, then breathe out through your mouth for a count of 5. Start with a few minutes a day. If one app or method doesn't suit you, that doesn't mean you're bad at mindfulness.
Pick a length you can actually finish, like 10 or 15 minutes, with one clear task. When your mind drifts, note it and return. Add five minutes once that feels easy. Our guide to the Pomodoro technique walks through a timer routine step by step.
Days 1 and 2: Set one fixed wake-up time and stick to it.
Days 3 and 4: Turn off non-essential notifications. Do one 15-minute single-task block each day.
Day 5: Add a 10-minute walk before that block.
Days 6 and 7: Add three minutes of the breathing exercise. Then look back: which change made the biggest difference?
Keep what helped, and add the next habit the following week.
Everyone has scattered days. Talk to a doctor if trouble concentrating:
Is new, sudden or getting worse
Gets in the way of work, school, relationships or driving
Comes with low mood, constant worry, ongoing tiredness or poor sleep
Get medical help promptly if it starts after a head injury. A doctor can look at sleep, mood, medicines and other possible causes, including conditions such as ADHD.
This is general information, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your own situation.
There's no good evidence for it. The BBC traced it to a 2015 Microsoft Canada report that credited a website, and the sources behind that website couldn't find research to back it up.
You can improve the conditions for attention. Enough sleep and fewer task switches are the best-supported places to start, and fewer interruptions make single-tasking easier.
For complex tasks, usually. The APA notes that switching costs add up and that complex tasks lose more time. Simple pairings, like laundry and a chat, are probably fine.
That's a separate question with its own research. Our guide Do brain games work? covers what the studies found.
If you'd like a consistent way to check in on your focus while you try these habits, Attention Age: Focus Test runs a five-minute test of three timed tasks and gives a 0 to 100 Attention Index, with a weekly re-test using the same tasks and scoring, where changes under 5 points are labeled "about the same". It's an entertainment and self-practice app, not a medical, clinical or diagnostic test. It also has a focus timer with free 10- and 25-minute sessions, and your results stay on your iPhone, with no account and no ads.
Get Attention Age free on the App Store
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH): Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency
American Psychological Association: Multitasking: Switching costs