Ask HN: Any scientifically proven techniques to boost concentration?

Some moderate physical exercises do help but I also find that cooking helps me to be more relaxed after a day of coding work. Maybe because it needs a totally differnt kind of focus like chopping and much more (actual)hands-on which mean my coding brain can be shutdown afterwards.

8 hours of sleep every day. You lose time, but get back double the brain power.

Methylphenidate

Cold showers in the morning!!

Unsure if it's scientifically proven. But there is abundance of literature if you Google for it.

I've seen the results in myself. From being a very passive in meetings, drowsy, and almost ADHD like behavior to being able to hold my focus and concentration till end of business and past. Key is doing it in the morning, evenings didn't work well.

I’m not sure if it makes sense to try to find a “scientifically proven” technique if all you want is something that works for you. What works for a large group of people in a controlled scientific study does not necessarily work for each individual in that study, let alone for you.

You could do a scientific study on yourself, though. Figure out some objective way to measure your own concentration, and then try various interventions one at a time to see which intervention correlates with the best concentration. You could also try combinations of interventions—having a beer while taking a shower?—to see if you can get an even stronger effect.

I’ve never done such an experiment on myself, as planning and implementing the experiment would distract me so much that I wouldn’t be able to concentrate. So I just exercise for a while every morning. That seems to work—for me.