Is There a Way to Improve Concentration and Mental Ability?

With all the stresses of work and the pace of life impacting our mental health today, many of us need to find ways to improve concentration, particularly as we get older. As we increasingly notice that dates, names, numbers or other important information slips our minds our need to improve concentration may become apparent. Unfortunately, we are often left wondering what can be done about it.

Too often we shrug our shoulders and just chalk it up to getting older or not enough sleep. While those things definitely have an impact on our memory and concentration there are other potential factors as well. Things like poor nutrition, lack of exercise and stress all play a part in affecting our mental health. However, the ability to improve concentration is not beyond our reach.

While a lack of concentration may be brought on by many factors, attempting to improve concentration can also take many paths. Exercise and diet changes are a couple of the ways in which some attempt to adjust their mental health. For those with more serious issues in memory function they sometimes choose to go the route of conventional medicine and drug therapy. These methods may well address a lack of concentration, but they are not without their problems. Exercise and diet are great, but as most of us have learned at one time or another it is often difficult to maintain the proper regimen long term. As for drug therapy, they can indeed improve concentration, but usually at the cost of difficult, sometimes painful side-effects. As a result, many people are now turning to natural supplements to help them improve concentration.

Recent studies have shown that using various natural supplements rich in certain ingredients can positively affect mental health and improve concentration. This is good news for those suffering from a lack of concentration. Natural supplements are easy to use, effective and are safer than drugs. Many of the ingredients used in supplements that treat memory and mental health have been in use for quite some time. Ingredients like Ginkgo Biloba, Ginseng, Green Tea and Gotu Kola have well known properties to increase circulation in the brain, heal cellular damage and support memory function.

To enhance the power of such extracts, researchers have found that supplements should also combine vitamins such as the B complex vitamins and minerals such as Zinc, Manganese and Folic Acid. Not only do these necessary vitamins and minerals help general health, but they also can help the body prevent damage by attacking free radicals and stimulating the body's ability to heal itself.

In addition to all these well known ingredients, some newer supplements are also including more complex compounds, 5-hydroxytryptophan, Acetyl L-Carnitine, Phosphatidyl Choline and DMAE for example. These compounds help the body generate neurotransmitters, increase blood flow to the brain and in general help to improve concentration and memory.

Using a natural supplement to address a lack of concentration is a safe and effective method of dealing with a potentially serious problem. The more effective supplements will offer a wide range of extracts, vitamins, minerals and compounds that are maximized to support brain function and health. With the growth of the natural remedies marketplace, finding the right supplement is thankfully much easier today than it was even just a few years ago.

Mike Stevens has been studying the causes of memory loss and cognitive decline for years, and has written many articles on the subject. He is a regular contributor to Memory Enhancement Guide, a site discussing ways to enhance mental ability and prevent memory loss.