14 DAY TRIAL // Forget about coffee, energy drinks or slaps in the face administered with a firm and unforgiving hand. Scientists have at long last found the secret to rebooting the brain, and it's simpler than you'd think.
As it turns out, the simplest and fastest way to do CPR on a sleepy brain and rev up concentration levels is to stare out the window at a tree, a freshly mowed lawn or some other patch of greenery.
If there is none in sight, just hit the web, find a nature photo that appeals to you and stare at it instead. The recommended time for gazing out through the window or at your computer screen: 40 seconds flat.
OK, maybe a bit more if you're having an especially busy and tiresome day. Anyhow, this very simple trick should give you a concentration boost in a jippy, researchers say.
No, this isn't pure mumbo jumbo. It was a team of University of Melbourne scientists who, in a series of experiments, proved this trick to be very much real.
As part of their investigation, the specialists had volunteers stare at an actual landscape, a picture of a green roof or a photo of a barren wall, and then tested how focused they were.
The study participants in the first two groups all experienced a concentration boost after coming face to face with nature. The ones that got to stare at the brick wall, not so much.
“This study showed us that looking at an image of nature for less than a minute was all it took to help people perform better on our task,” they wrote in a report detailing their work, as cited by DM.
“Certainly this study has implications for workplace well-being and adds extra impetus to continue greening our cities,” they went on to argue.