Mental clarity is when you have a focused, clear state of mind. As we live in a fast-paced digital environment, mental clarity means being able to pay attention to your work, studies, and even friends without being distracted by the notification on your phone or the anxiety of meeting your boss tomorrow.
The ability to focus on what’s in front of you is crucial in enhancing your quality of life. A mentally clear person will often be less stressed, more productive, and be able to absorb new information like a sponge. While people tend to avoid hanging out with Distracted Dave, being mentally sharp and focused gives you an advantage in your social life as your peers will feel like they are being heard and appreciated.
We’ll take a look at 3 ways you can achieve a clearer state of mind in this quick read.
Stress management
There are many ways to manage stress. Some people meditate and take deep breaths for 5 minutes, while some consume high-quality CBD, sourced from professional farmers that use indoor grow lights for cannabis.
You need to make sure that your coping mechanism does not cause addiction in the long run. Rather, it should be a method that prepares your mind to manage and organize your priorities rather than finding a temporary escape just to delay inevitable problems.
Stress management is crucial when it comes to achieving mental clarity. You will not be able to zone in on your work when you are constantly worried about the events or problems coming your way. When you are stressed, your blood cortisol level rises, and prolonged stress has been shown to deteriorate memory and other cognitive functions. You are more likely to experience brain fog, the antithesis for mental clarity when you are constantly stressed.
Improve sleep quality
High-quality sleep is necessary for you to operate optimally during the day. Most people are aware that the average adult needs seven hours of snooze time at night. However, if one keeps waking up in the middle of the night, the sleep cycle is interrupted and this reduces the brain’s ability to process emotional information and recover from mental exertion. This results in moody mornings and an inability to focus during the day.
Improving sleep quality can be as simple as modifying your environment to facilitate your body’s internal clock and naturally promote melatonin production. This includes:
- Avoid looking at screens 30-60 minutes before bed
- Keep your bedroom completely dark – invest in blackout blinds!
- Cool your room to 60-67 degrees F
- Get a high-quality mattress
- Freshen your room with calming scents such as lavender
- Purchase a white noise machine if you are a light sleeper
Cut distractions
Our attention is expensive. Today, we live in an age where everyone is so easy to reach out to that we have family, friends, and colleagues tugging us from all directions. We’ve all been in situations where we are in the zone and getting work done, and suddenly we receive a notification on our phone. Also, if you are living with someone with anxiety and depression, it will have the same impact.
The moment you consider picking your phone up is already the moment your focus breaks apart even if you don’t follow through with it.
To put it bluntly, our brains aren’t made to multi-task. To achieve peak mental clarity, you really need to cut the day-to-day distractions in your life. I would start with turning off all notifications from social media. If it’s urgent, they will call you rather than spamming your DMs. If you find yourself distracted by noise, invest in high-quality noise cancellation earphones. These two steps alone will boost your productivity by leaps and bounds!
