Early warning signs of decreasing concentration

Early warning signs of decreasing concentration are everyday signs of fatigue as a result of mental tension. With a little practice, the early warning signs can be observed and named in everyday life.

Early warning sign EWS No. 1 and early warning sign EWS No. 2 of decreasing concentration are noticeable first. Early warning signs of lack of concentration follow.

EWS No. 1 – Attention wanders off into non-task content

Mental digression must be distinguished from external distractions. External distractions are triggered by events in our environment that are new to us or occur surprisingly and unexpectedly. For example, a colleague we weren’t expecting enters the office and interrupts our previous thoughts about work. Or the phone rings and interrupts the last thought by drawing our attention to the ringing. Digression is different. We mentally digress from one thought to a completely different topic. While reading a text, we digress into thoughts about a cup of coffee or opening the window because the air is so bad. Or we suddenly remember that we need to buy something to eat.

EWS No. 2 – Concentration difficulties

The repeated digression into other topics is noticed, but we always return to our task. The result is that we digress more and more often due to progressive mental fatigue. Repeated digression corresponds to the difficulty of staying on topic, i.e. the difficulty of concentrating.

Important note

Organic diseases with similar early warning signs must be ruled out by the doctor.

Early warning signs are not the result of the effects of medication, alcohol or drugs.

If you react to EWZ 1 and EWS 2 in good time, you will save yourself EWSs due to lack of concentration!

Please note the exhaustionE to restore the ability to concentrate.

After the early warning signs appear, you should take a break, the duration of which is based on the individual early warning signs EWS 1 and EWS 2. Anyone who continues to work beyond EWS 2 despite having difficulty concentrating must make more and more effort to remain focused and therefore concentrated. This mental effort results in

1. that our thinking is increasingly slowing down. This can be seen in the early warning signs of a lack of concentration.
2. that the break requirement increases continuously beyond EWS 2. For this reason, the time (t) beyond EWS 2 must be measured with a TIMER and the break requirement calculated individually with 10+(t ÷ 2).

PIRKA suggests relaxONnaming^® during the pause, relaxONnaming^® the surroundings and relaxONnaming^® colours as a time-out.

*(t) corresponds to the time from which work continues beyond EWS 2, i.e. despite difficulties in concentrating. Measure the time (t) with a TIMER and calculate 10+(t ÷ 2), as the need for breaks beyond EWS 2 increases steadily over time! Example: If work is continued for 100 minutes beyond EWS 2 despite existing concentration problems, the recovery time is calculated as follows: 10+(t ÷ 2) with 10+(100 ÷ 2) = 60 min. Such a long recovery time is not feasible in everyday working life! To avoid long recovery times, you should react promptly to EWS 1 and EWS 2.

Use the 50/10 and 25/5 exhaustionE protocol to document, assess and support your ability to concentrate in everyday life.

He felt fit and got straight down to work. Designing therapy plans was tough, but necessary. He was so engrossed in his work that he forgot about the time. Suddenly he realized that a thought about a cup of coffee interrupted the previous thought about work. His attention had wandered from the topic he was working on to something unrelated to the task (drinking coffee). EWS 1 was noticeable. Digression is a sign of fatigue and should be taken seriously. A short break helps to restore concentration and increase performance for the next stage of work. The length of the break of up to 5 minutes also depends on what we are doing during the break. Talking to colleagues or researching on the Internet consumes more mental energy, which unnecessarily prolongs the recovery time. For this reason, PIRKA suggests relaxONnaming^® during the pause, relaxONnaming^® the surroundings and relaxONnaming^® colours as a time-out.

She had long since noticed the repeated digression of her thoughts. First the thought of the coffee, which now really had nothing to do with the content of the tax return, and then the thought of who from the family could pick uncle Friedberg up from the station at 4 pm. This was followed a little later by the thought of tomorrow’s parents’ evening. The repeated digression from the topic is an indication that I can no longer concentrate. The required break is up to 10 minutes. Here too, the length of the required recovery time depends on what we are doing during the break. Making phone calls or reading magazines uses up more mental energy, which unnecessarily prolongs the recovery time. For this reason, PIRKA suggests relaxONnaming® during the pause, relaxONnaming® the surroundings and relaxONnaming® colours as a time-out.

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