The relation between self-reported healthy living and attentional engagement in everyday life

• Published in: Current research in behavioral sciences 2023, Vol.4, p.100086, Article 100086
• Main Authors: Kruger, Tyler B., Marty-Dugas, Jeremy, Ralph, Brandon C.W., Dixon, Mike J., Smilek, Daniel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attention; Cognition; Healthy living; Individual differences
• ISSN: 2666-5182; 2666-5182
• DOI: 10.1016/j.crbeha.2022.100086

•Sedentariness was associated less frequent self-reported experiences of flow.•Sleepiness was associated with inattention in as well as less frequent self-reported experiences of flow.•Unhealthy dietary habits were associated with more lapses of attention and attention-related cognitive errors and less frequent self-reported experiences of flow.•The measures of healthy living collectively accounted for a significant and substantial portion of the variance in each attention measure after controlling for age. We examined how three different components of self-reported healthy living—physical activity, sleepiness, and dietary habits—relate to self-reported inattention and deep, effortless concentration (i.e., “flow”) in everyday life via two online surveys (N = 171 and N = 172). Our results indicated that sedentariness was associated with less frequent self-reported experiences of flow while sleepiness was associated with inattention in general (i.e., greater self-reported attention-related cognitive errors, attention lapses, and mind-wandering) as well as less frequent self-reported experiences of flow. Additionally, unhealthy dietary habits were associated with more lapses of attention and attention-related cognitive errors and less frequent self-reported experiences of flow. Most importantly, the measures of healthy living collectively accounted for a significant and substantial portion of the variance in each attention measure after controlling for age (up to 29% in Sample One and 34% in Sample Two). These results indicate a strong relation between healthy living and attentional engagement and raise the tantalizing possibility that an increase in healthy living may substantially improve attentional engagement in everyday life. [Display omitted]