Why is it so hard to concentrate at work, and what to do

If you work in an office, colleagues chatter and incessant ringing of the phone can be very distracting. However, it can be done.

The surveyOffice noise and employee concentration: identifying causes of disruption and potential improvementsConducted among 88 office workers, 99% of respondents admitted that loud noises prevent them focus. For science it is not opening.

Why do we ignore

parts of the brain process sound, control and mental and physiological processes necessary for concentration and creativity. Extraneous sounds distract us often because they are competing for recognition in the brain with other signals. Pinna that converts sound waves into nerve signals, and receives information from the brain. For example, about the origin of the sound, the need to react to it, and the level of his irritability.

researchThe cognitive determinants of behavioral distraction by deviant auditory stimuli: a review It shows that the sound annoys us when its volume is equal to the volume of a normal conversation or exceeds it. If the speaker is working in a number of the other team, it will distract us even more. Only a foreign language does not affect our performance: the results of experiments

Some of us are prone to be distracted more often. AnalysisMusic is as distracting as noise: the differential distraction of background music and noise on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts productivity among 38 introverts and extroverts 38 showed that the first is much more difficult to concentrate in a noisy environment, including when on the music than the second. This is due to the fact that their bodies respond differently to external stimuli.

How to get rid of noise

In 2016, experts found The Sound of Creativity: Correlating Brainwave & Psychometric Changes with Workplace AcousticsThat white noise is best to suppress extraneous sounds in the office. It allows to concentrate on work and associate workers with the productive performance of creative problem solving. In this white noise slightly reduces the recognizability of speech and increases cognitive ability.

On the Internet you can find a lot of sites that generate white noise. Among the most populyarnyh- Noisli.com, Mynoise.net and Tmsoft.com. It is best to listen to it through the browser, and not download the app on your smartphone: so there will be less temptation. Noise can mix it with other soothing background sounds: crashing waves, tropical rain, rustling leaves, wind.

If you do decide to buy a stationary generator, first convince his colleagues in need.