Survey identifies top factors Americans blame for declining focus and attention

Research present that the typical consideration span is now solely eight seconds. That is about as a lot time because it takes to learn just a few sentences earlier than being distracted.

A brand new nationwide survey of 1,000 American adults commissioned by The Ohio State College Wexner Medical Middle and School of Drugs finds that stress and anxiousness contribute most to a brief consideration span (43%), adopted by lack of sleep (39%) and digital units (35%).

Different contributing elements embrace boredom or lack of curiosity (31%); multitasking (23%); lack of bodily exercise (21%); poor food plan/hydration (20%) and medical circumstances reminiscent of ADHD (18%).

Solely 25% of survey respondents mentioned they do not have bother with their consideration span.

Evita Singh, MD, a psychiatrist with Ohio State’s Division of Psychiatry and Behavioral Well being mentioned that is one thing she sees typically.

“The stress and the ruminating and serious about issues again and again in your thoughts can definitely influence consideration span and the power to focus,” mentioned Singh. “Typically when sufferers come to see me, they’re apprehensive about their skill to focus, and there is a good likelihood that it finally ends up being as a result of they’re so wired or they’re anxious. So we work on treating that.”

Brief consideration spans can have long-term penalties, she mentioned.

“When individuals are multitasking, once they have so many issues of their thoughts that they are serious about, they’ll get exhausted,” Singh mentioned. “After which it is actually onerous to get pleasure from issues, which might then result in despair or anxiousness.”

To assist enhance consideration spans and the power to focus longer, Singh created a instrument to assist.

It is referred to as Take 5:

T—Take frequent breaks.
A—Actively have interaction within the one activity at hand.
Ok—Preserve distractions to a minimal.
E—Get rid of multitasking.
5—Take 5 minutes to refocus.

“For instance, can we do 5 minutes of a small exercise observe, or a bit of little bit of mindfulness or one thing else that we get pleasure from?” Singh requested.

If strategies reminiscent of “Take 5” are usually not working, and a scarcity of focus or quick consideration negatively impacts day-to-day life, Singh encourages folks to hunt assist from a psychological well being skilled.

“There are lots of various things that may result in why we’re having a tough time focusing or having bother with consideration,” Singh mentioned. “However having the ability to acknowledge that whereas additionally giving grace to ourselves that we do not have to be ‘on’ and focusing 100% of the time can be actually necessary.”

Survey methodology

This examine was performed by SSRS on its Opinion Panel Omnibus platform. The SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus is a nationwide, twice-per-month, probability-based survey. Knowledge assortment was performed from Could 2—Could 5, 2025, amongst a pattern of 1,008 respondents. The survey was performed by way of net (n=978) and phone (n=30) and administered in English. The margin of error for complete respondents is +/-3.6 share factors on the 95% confidence stage.

All SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus knowledge are weighted to characterize the goal inhabitants of U.S. adults ages 18 or older. This report supplies details about the sampling procedures and the strategies used to gather, course of, and weight knowledge for this examine.