Some things in life can grab our attention so much that we become distracted to the point where nothing else seems to matter. My best friend, Aaron, has an addiction to nasal spray. He’s had this addiction for five years and he tells me how without the spray his nose begins to become extremely stuffy after two hours which disallows him from breathing properly from his nose and from focusing on anything but the spray. He tells me that anytime he goes out, whether it’s to school, the gym, or anywhere in general he must bring the nasal spray with him. Aaron said during high school he would try to go to the bathroom in between classes just so he could spray the nasal spray into his nose. Without doing this he wouldn’t perform his best in tests or listening to the teachers’s instructions because all he would be thinking about was when he would be able to use his nasal spray.
A disturbing observation. I am not clear how it fits into our discussion of how attention works, though. Please tell me more.
My best friend’s addiction to nasal spray, from what he tells me is that its harder to focus or pay attention to anything without them. Basically because of the discomfort from the withdrawal, he tells me which is like headaches, stuffy nose, not being able to sleep, and sometimes anxiety. I believe that all those symptoms could be factors of why he loses focus because of his addiction, which is a big distraction in his life he won’t be able to pay attention properly