health
March 12, 2026
Maintaining deep focus really is harder these days—how to improve your attention span, from a top researcher
Americans are reading less and struggling to focus on tasks these days. Here's how Gloria Mark, who studies attention spans, suggests improving your focus.
TL;DR
- Average attention span on single tasks has decreased significantly, from over two minutes in 2004 to 47 seconds in 2016.
- Reading novels has declined, with less than half of Americans reading a book in a 12-month period ending in July 2022.
- Decreased focus correlates with lower information recall and can cause stress.
- Improving attention span is possible by retraining the mind's 'muscles' for focus.
- Five strategies to improve attention span include: getting good sleep, setting realistic goals, identifying focus peaks and valleys, reading more books, and engaging in meta-awareness.
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