from Hacker News

Show HN: Improve cognitive focus in 1 minute

by junetic on 2/7/24, 1:03 PM with 285 comments

• by TheAceOfHearts on 2/7/24, 2:07 PM

  My mind: initial resistance, I don't really wanna do it. Whatever I started it. Okay, focus on the circle. Wow this feels like it's taking a while. Oh I wonder how other people would react to being presented this. Some people would probably expect it to be some sort of scare jump prank. Back to focusing on the circle. What was the page called again? eyes go to URL bar Oh right, one minute focus. This is distracting I'll just start counting. 1, 2, [...], 42. Oh it finished.

• by jeffgreco on 2/7/24, 2:09 PM

  I was a young internet user at the turn of the century so kept waiting for a jump scare -_-

• by VladimirGolovin on 2/7/24, 6:32 PM

  Very timely and helpful, thank you!

  A suggestion: the pulse animation would look much better with ease-in / ease-out animation curves instead of the harsh linear curve it's currently using. EaseInOutSine from this cheat sheet would do fine: https://easings.net/

• by thinkingtoilet on 2/7/24, 3:01 PM

  A small piece of feedback. I started to breath naturally with the pulse of the circle then found it to be a little too fast. I think slowing the pulse down would be nice. And to add to what others have said, I think the contrast of the colors could be more pleasant. Thanks for sharing!

• by zagrebian on 2/7/24, 2:01 PM

  Maybe it would be better if the circle didn’t have such a high contrast. I don’t want a black circle burnt into my eyes after I’m done with this exercise.

• by fnordsensei on 2/7/24, 1:46 PM

  Speaking of Huberman, I've had great use of the physiological sigh[1] for dealing with stress.

  1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0OBgihk2f8

• by gpmcadam on 2/7/24, 3:46 PM

  I waited around 30 seconds for this page to load before I gave up.

  I can't say it improved my focus but I did appreciate the 30s of calm. Good work!

• by MisterKent on 2/7/24, 9:39 PM

  I like the idea, and the simplicity of the site.

  Two minor requests:

  - Ability to hide the timer at the bottom completely (one less distraction for my brain)

  - Dark mode (or maybe selectable colors?) -- I think it could be useful right before going to bed, clear my mind out etc.

  Ideally, both could be saved to local storage so the settings persist.

• by boplicity on 2/7/24, 3:23 PM

  This is a bit like one of my personal focus hacks. When I'm struggling, especially in the morning, I'll often set a five minute timer, and tell myself: "surely you can focus on something for five minutes." This is usually enough to get me over the hump, and in the mood to actually get stuff done.

  I do think there's something that happens after a short period of intentional focus, where you cross a "barrier" into a state of mind that is more conducive to long-term focus. But there's definitely sometimes real resistance to crossing that barrier.

• by kapep on 2/7/24, 2:19 PM

  The abrupt reset snapped me out of my thoughts which felt kind of unpleasant to me. Unless it is an intentional part of the experience, I would probably use a smoother end animation. Something that gently prepares you to get back to work (even if it just for a few seconds) instead of kicking you straight back into the world with unfinished thoughts.

• by plaidfuji on 2/7/24, 1:45 PM

  I am SO COGNITIVELY FOCUSED on reading this comment section.

• by cchance on 2/7/24, 3:13 PM

  Firstly... my ADHD did not allow me to complete this.

  Secondly... My distrust of the internet did not let me complete this as it told me a jump scare was guaranteed to happen eventually.

• by slingnow on 2/7/24, 1:41 PM

  If Huberman mentioned it in a podcast, it must be true and groundbreaking way to hack your brain to a better life!

  I can't wait to stare at this thing !!!!

• by karmajunkie on 2/7/24, 4:01 PM

  This is basically the "Breathe" meditation helper from the mindfulness app on the apple watch (not sure if Android/WearOS has something similar…) Useful if you don't have one but the watch version is a bit handier for my use.

• by seventytwo on 2/7/24, 2:28 PM

  Huberman seems to be well-respected, but I just can’t shake my feeling that he’s constantly trying to sell me stuff.

• by reilly3000 on 2/8/24, 4:51 AM

  One of the lesser discussed aspects of ADHD is rapid eye movement. This exercise brought mine into focus. Every ~18 seconds I noticed the circle jumped to another size as my gaze was rapidly averted and reset. I tried it a few times and focused intensely and had the same outcome. It’s one of the ways neurotypical folks can intuitively use to (subconsciously) discover our traits and deem us untrustworthy. Shifty…

  If you find that last statement to be outlandish, please take a look at these resources.

  https://neuroclastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Thin-sli...

  https://www.nature.com/articles/srep40700

  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-41654-9

• by sippeangelo on 2/7/24, 1:50 PM

  This does not work if you have ADHD and you notice how you can see your own reflection in the darkness of the dot and oh look I forgot to shave this morning… wait where did the dot go??

• by evanjrowley on 2/7/24, 10:23 PM

  You could make some $ if you presented an ad instead of a dot.

• by boringg on 2/7/24, 2:15 PM

  Made it to 45 seconds before looking at the clock - though i had the mouse over the circle so it was greyed and in the middle I needed to move it around because it was distracting.

  Cool site though. How long does the "mental boost" last for? I.e. 1 min of focus for x amount of boost?

• by lagt_t on 2/7/24, 7:05 PM

  Huberman passes studies conclusions as settled science.

• by gniv on 2/7/24, 3:50 PM

  Now that I've been acquired by a cat, I've learned to sit quietly for longer periods. She has endless patience if she's not disturbed.

• by troydavis on 2/11/24, 3:28 PM

  Here's a free, ad-free phone app that does a slightly more engaging version of the same thing: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/the-breathing-app/id1285982210 , https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ayny.breat...

  The technique it implements is called resonance breathing AKA resonance frequency breathing: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8924557/

  If you've wanted to try meditation but haven't made time, try 3 minutes in that app and work up to 5-10. 5 minutes is enough to measure a difference in HRV.

• by dusted on 2/7/24, 7:58 PM

  That was amazingly disturbing.

  I'm generally not disturbed by my noisy visual field, but this.. Giant halo around the breathing dot, as the contrast faded in and out the roundness started to disintegrate and as it changed size while fading to grey it started straight up breaking into geometric patterns, like the geometry was chopped up around the edges.

  I have no problem looking into nothingness for a long time (I can stare at ceilings until the lines disappear, or into the sky until the clouds seem to meld away)..

  Given how this was probably not intended to be a visual illusion, it did a great job of it! :D

• by rpastuszak on 2/7/24, 2:54 PM

  Nice one! The first version of Sit. was just a dot to stare at: https://sit.sonnet.io

  (Felt like too much UI for me so I dropped it.)

• by SketchySeaBeast on 2/7/24, 2:15 PM

  It would be great if you had a link or source for the claims on the page before you start.

• by Doe-_ on 2/7/24, 1:58 PM

  Fun!

  I wonder if this lets you measure the average attention span of visitors? I'd be curious to see the impact on the average of the various platforms where this is shared.

• by 6510 on 2/8/24, 12:25 AM

  My gut says it should breath out slower than inhale. (shrink slower than expand)

  I have a fun test where I blank my mind and look at the seconds on a clock. This is great to see how fucked up your state of mind is. Ideally there are no automated bodily processes that override that what you intend to do on the short term. That you should sleep eat drink, go to the toilet and stretch your legs is obvious. It's worth fighting those processes a little bit but unless you have a sensible excuse (like losing weight or driving a car) there is no need to meddle with them. Short term distractions from within should be suppressed when trying to get something done but also embraced when you are not.

  I love the idea that narrowing your field of view makes you more focused and do work with less effort and faster. I do think easier is not always your friend. A fancy bicycle that takes less effort and shortens your trip does make the trip less of an exercise. Maybe you should widen your vision before easy tasks.

• by catchnear4321 on 2/7/24, 2:06 PM

  as a side project - neat

  as a focus tool or means of understanding the self - anyone that hasn’t tried to just sit or lay quietly, for the sake of doing so, ought to. it isn’t hard, it isn’t easy, it just isn’t something modern society really seems to encourage, let alone understand. you might find you feel different once you are done than from when you began. that might be a good thing.

• by layer8 on 2/7/24, 7:07 PM

  On an iPhone mini, the circle at maximum size extends a bit beyond the left and right screen edges (slightly more on the left it seems, so not exactly centered). In addition, the page is scrollable vertically by about 10% (except that the “About” doesn’t scroll), despite there being no content that would require scrolling.

• by Cocorentin on 2/7/24, 11:51 PM

  I started trying meditation ten years ago, and initially, it was going well. However, after I developed anxiety, the imagery in meditation often triggered a sense of panic in me. Does anyone know about the relationship between long-term meditation and depersonalization? There are some papers discussing this topic.

• by moltenc on 2/7/24, 4:06 PM

  The year is 2024 and a website requires running untrusted scripts on your computer to display one dot on the screen.

• by jmbwell on 2/7/24, 4:42 PM

  I like it! Have you considered adding a little easing to the animation so that the changes are more gradual?

• by crawancon on 2/7/24, 1:54 PM

  Neat idea and implementation!

  I'm a bit jaded from the internet so I couldn't relax. I was waiting for something to jump out or a big eyeball or something.

  the white and black contrast was nice... though it started to mess with my eyes as I stared. maybe awkward for light/strobe sensitive folks?

• by wruza on 2/7/24, 10:48 PM

  Not that I had any subsequent tasks at hand, but thanks.

  Few things I'd consider:

  1. Make it to not stop when the time's out. New users will wonder if a minute passed and see 0:00, happy. Regular users will know the trick and will learn to spend as much time as they need around a minute, instead of feeling interrupted. Some will be angry, they failed anyway.

  2. Make the "dot" smaller and blurry to avoid sharp halo.

  3. Fade-in unintrusive "vvv" under 0:00 to suggest scrolling down for a random short advice/info. What was expected, how to deal next time, and so on. Educational and praising component.

  4. Dark mode for those who can't browser extensions.

  5. Click on a circle is probably barely discoverable due to the nature of the process. I'd push it down to #3.

• by hirvi74 on 2/7/24, 8:24 PM

  For all the ADHD people saying that we are unable to meditate, just know that ADHD might be beneficial in some forms of meditation.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvuVhCIQgfQ

• by giberson on 2/7/24, 7:38 PM

  I found the animation end point and start point to be rather abrupt. Can you add/tweak the easing function so the stopping isn’t sudden? For me it produces a cognitive thunk that takes me out of concentration on breathing.

  Otherwise it seems it could be effective.

• by lynguist on 2/7/24, 7:57 PM

  It looks like the hackernewsverse really needed this.

  What unexpected positivity in the comments! And when I read this I feel somewhat more connected to you others. It’s not just text that was already plastered here. It is someone’s written thoughts.

• by holoduke on 2/7/24, 10:29 PM

  I started looking at it and forced myself to not look somewhere else. Without directly looking I saw some vague thing below the circle. Was it a timer? Was it some kind of "too bad you lose" text. I did not watch.

• by ethbr1 on 2/7/24, 1:51 PM

  Recite your baseline.

  > And blood-black nothingness began to spin... a system of cells interlinked within cells interlinked within cells interlinked within one stem... and dreadfully distinct against the dark, a tall white fountain played.

• by loudandskittish on 2/8/24, 12:27 AM

  So, does the fact that I have zero trouble focusing on the dot for 60 seconds mean I DON'T have ADHD, contrary to what so many people on social media have been trying to convince me?

• by TheLonelyClown on 2/7/24, 1:51 PM

  Very nice :)

  Feedback: mostly I need to do this at work currently, which means I am going to retreat to a quiet place and grab my phone.

  Phone Screens going to sleep and the thing being interrupted by tapping anywhere on the screen are not compatible. Not sure if other people face this issue, but for me tapping anywhere on the screen in order to not make the phone go to sleep should not interrupt or restart this meditation. A small X in a corner would be better.

  Nit: The scrolling on your site is horrible broken on mobile. Keeps rubber banding and bouncing around.

• by zestyping on 2/7/24, 9:02 PM

  I could only make it for 30 seconds before I couldn't stand the sharp corner in the animation curves any longer and opened the Dev Tools to try to fix the easing! :)

• by jaystraw on 2/7/24, 2:52 PM

  in say the late 90's, i remember getting an email with a link to a webpage that explained, "your CRT can be used as a camera, and if you stay in position in front of your screen we'll take a picture of you and display it"

  i'm maybe 12, and thinking of all sorts of things as i sat proudly waiting for an image of me to come back.

  after 15 odd seconds, i was shown a picture of a laughing primate. who was neither me or human.

  staring at this circle, i thought i was gonna get pranked again

• by giantg2 on 2/7/24, 1:40 PM

  And now you've meta sidetracked me with your Show HN post.

• by leetrout on 2/7/24, 1:41 PM

  Related, on the meditation side, "Sit" was posted on here the other day

  https://sit.sonnet.io/

• by KerryJones on 2/7/24, 7:28 PM

  Feedback:

  - This is great to link to breathing

  - After reading multiple breathing books (Breath by James Nester, Outlive by Peter Attia, Oxygen Advantage, etc.), there's a lot of evidence to breath slower. Specifically, 5.5 seconds in, and 5.5 seconds out, make the dot match or be closer to matching that rate could actually cause a lot of physical benefit by people matching with it

  - Alternative if you don't want that, make it a control setting so someone (like myself) can do it.

• by Souk on 2/7/24, 3:29 PM

  A friend of mine was asked to do "cohérence cardiaque" breathing exercises so I made them something similar [1]. The circle will slowly change hue, before cycling back to blue after about 5 minutes (They were supposed to do this exercise for 5 minutes and I thought having a timer wouldn't be relaxing)

  [1] https://souf.dev/cc

• by 8ed30dc on 2/10/24, 9:03 AM

  I just get some error after gray ball was dispear from screen

  Application error: a client-side exception has occurred (see the browser console for more information).

  main-b85113564a892656.js:1 DOMException: Failed to execute 'removeChild' on 'Node': The node to be removed is not a child of this node.

• by ctack on 2/7/24, 1:31 PM

  I like it, but it overflows on my iPhone SE screen.

• by blobbers on 2/7/24, 5:25 PM

  Huberman’s opinion on cognitive focus; possibly an opinion he has some authority on!!

  (As opposed to all the other opinions he seems to love to opine)

• by m3kw9 on 2/7/24, 3:54 PM

  The problem of focus is a problem of motivation, you could band aid it by doing this but if you can’t solve why you are not drawn to the task you will always have this issue.

  Can you focus hours playing a good game? Yes? Then why is this game innately making you focus and your task isn’t? Maybe it can be looked at differently? Can it be fixed?

• by instagib on 2/8/24, 6:05 PM

  Good to get people to try things for mental health. Huberman has a ton of content.

  I’ve used this one and it’s pretty good also. Trataka meditation with Dr. K, a gamer->monk->doctor.

  https://youtube.com/watch?v=vBdgpxqYkQ0

• by swah on 2/7/24, 5:03 PM

  Related term is trataka (see https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...)

• by kieckerjan on 2/7/24, 2:34 PM

  Nice work! Does the trick for me.

  Tangentially, I would love to have something like this in which I can "program" my own breathwork routines (reps and sets including breath holds). Been trying various apps, but haven't yet found one that ticks all my boxes. (Tips welcome.)

• by gentleman11 on 2/7/24, 4:06 PM

  > ...has been proven to...

  I came here looking for the paper or research that proves this. Do you have a source?

• by hwbunny on 2/7/24, 8:25 PM

  I usually watch my desktop background or other art. The more you watch an art piece the more interesting nuances you tend to discover. This could also ruin an at first perfect looking art piece once you see discover some very disturbing details ;P.

• by FergusArgyll on 2/7/24, 2:53 PM

  about 20 seconds in: Can I vape while focusing?

• by lenerdenator on 2/7/24, 4:46 PM

  My ADHD (in Darth Vader voice): "Your powers are weak, old man."

• by hereforcomments on 2/7/24, 9:23 PM

  Awesome! I've added this to CJS Chrome extension and randomly (2%) it will throw me to the site. So during the day I'll do some breathwork to manage stress and get into focus.

• by omnster on 2/8/24, 7:01 AM

  Great work, helped me to calm down a bit!

  There was a bit of jumpscare for me at the end though: when the circle jumps back to being a button again. May I suggest adding a slower deflation?

• by tootie on 2/7/24, 6:46 PM

  Trigger warning: I have narcolepsy and the dot induced a cataplexy

• by afandian on 2/7/24, 2:00 PM

  I recommend https://breathly.app/

  It's open source, runs on iOS and Android and has aboslutely no clutter.

• by stevage on 2/7/24, 10:36 PM

  IMHO the breaths are too fast.

  There is a type of breathing recommended for calming the body which is something like 4 seconds in, hold 4 seconds, 4 seconds out, wait 4 seconds, repeat.

• by rrr_oh_man on 2/7/24, 9:30 PM

  Went from start to finish, but it hasn't helped a bit. :(

• by autoexec on 2/7/24, 5:18 PM

  The button doesn't work without JS enabled, but just staring at the "start" button for 1 minute would probably work just as well right?

• by treprinum on 2/7/24, 8:44 PM

  I hoped for something from /r/unexpected or /r/AbruptChaos at the end to verify that my focus really improved ;-)

• by zerojames on 2/7/24, 1:36 PM

  This reminds me of the old Headspace meditation app circle that was used to help steady breathing before beginning a session. I like it!

• by blharr on 2/8/24, 6:37 AM

  Maybe it's placebo, but imo it worked pretty strongly! For about 30 minutes, I got a decent increase in work done

• by PeterStuer on 2/8/24, 7:37 AM

  I tried it. I almost fell asleep (not a joke). I still felt drowsee during the next task (writing this comment).

• by wt__ on 2/8/24, 8:59 AM

  I stopped after a few seconds because I thought will staring at a black circle just give me eye strain (again)?

• by AtNightWeCode on 2/8/24, 11:04 AM

  Nice. The pulse is a bit too fast for syncing breathing I think. Also, exhales should be slower than inhales.

• by jumperabg on 2/7/24, 4:38 PM

  I am not sure if I was focusing or I waited for something else to happen, for example a zombie to pop up screaming.

• by bzmrgonz on 2/7/24, 2:48 PM

  I think the instructions need to be further clarified. We should match the expansion of the dot with our inhales?

• by HumblyTossed on 2/7/24, 3:10 PM

  Started it, then almost immediately got a text from daycare and clicked away. I guess I'll try again later.

• by ohyes on 2/7/24, 2:41 PM

  I kept thinking “all hail hypnotoad” and waiting for a jumpscare. I did feel remarkably calmer towards the end.

• by theonething on 2/7/24, 5:48 PM

  Tried it and love it. Super simple. Does what it says on the tin and nothing else. Thanks for making it!

• by neves on 2/7/24, 8:00 PM

  When I have a hard time to focus, I use this feature in my Mi Band. It is nice to have it always with ou

• by st3ve445678 on 2/7/24, 7:49 PM

  Am I supposed to match my breathing to the way the circle moves? The instructions make no mention of it.

• by wscourge on 2/8/24, 9:36 AM

  Anybody who ever meditated knows well that 1 minute of uninterrupted focus is very, very hard.

• by m3kw9 on 2/7/24, 3:55 PM

  Maybe make the circle complete as time expire could make people stop wondering when it will be done.

• by syngrog66 on 2/7/24, 3:44 PM

  I admire fact you created it. And focus is good. But honestly theres no need for this to be software or be on the Internet. I've been able to stare at things for over 40 years now, both out in the real world around me. As well as at imagined things inside my mind's eye. I can stare at things today. Right now, even! And for as long or short as I want, tailored to my unique needs. And with max privacy. No power or connectivity needed.

  I think increasingly that major portions of humanity are.. well, insane, to be frank. Perhaps its me thats the crazy one? ;-)

• by alphabet9000 on 2/7/24, 10:03 PM

  the maze game (screamer) permanently rewired my brain to avoid anything like this on the internet forever. staring at the dot for 2 seconds is already nerve wracking - will an exorcist face suddenly pop up? is it worth the risk? never again

• by dimask on 2/7/24, 7:19 PM

  Nice, I really like it. A quiet nice way to bring meditation during my work time actually.

• by cupcakecommons on 2/7/24, 8:29 PM

  It's not a jumpscare. Had to let it run to completion before using it.

• by mywacaday on 2/7/24, 3:26 PM

  Nearly impossible to see the circle in dark mode on mobile. Neat idea though

• by sexy_seedbox on 2/8/24, 12:22 AM

  This reminds me of Wim Hof's breath work / breathing exercises.

• by analog31 on 2/7/24, 9:24 PM

  I fell asleep. Well, at least that's another cognitive improvement.

• by tiborsaas on 2/8/24, 6:56 AM

  This reminded me of Mulder from X-iles when he taped an X on windows.

• by adamzerner on 2/8/24, 12:15 AM

  That's a really cool app. What JavaScript framework did you use?

• by junetic on 2/7/24, 1:41 PM

  huberman talking about visual focus + brain effects - https://youtu.be/CrtR12PBKb0?t=3367

• by jacobsenscott on 2/7/24, 4:48 PM

  I couldn't not look at the timer. I lasted 10 seconds.

• by olegdater on 2/7/24, 8:05 PM

  would be cool if it used webcam and then would detect if you stop looking at the circle, then reset the timer if detected

  the aim would be to be focused for 1 min

• by rsyring on 2/7/24, 7:59 PM

  There is a muted countdown at the very bottom center.

• by groby_b on 2/7/24, 7:58 PM

  Congrats on building this!

  Initial feedback:

  That circle is gargantuan, focusing on it takes no significant mental bandwidth. Yes, that's the point of meditation, but if you challenge people a bit, it makes it easier for them to stay focused, especially for beginners. (Or maybe it's a mobile page and I just shouldn't watch it on my desktop monitor?)

  Like the pulse in general, but maybe a bit too fast. Absolutely hate the coloring - black is having a mood impact, and washed out grey is just meh. That's probably a personal reaction, but worth keeping in mind if you want to build on it.

  Having a clearer indication of time left might be helpful for people beginning to meditate. (If I'd built it, I'd progressively make the focus object vanish until it's gone at the end, but, again, that might be personal preference.)

• by quirkyblah on 2/8/24, 1:42 AM

  10x'd productivity today. Thank you!

• by anonymous344 on 2/7/24, 8:17 PM

  1. how is it so fast? 2. dark mode?

• by karolist on 2/7/24, 7:08 PM

  does the pulsating dot contain randomised white noise or it's solid and it is my vision?

• by rbosinger on 2/7/24, 5:23 PM

  Maybe be able to control the breathing speed (the circle animation speed) would be handy. Unless this is supposed to be scientifically the speed I should be breathing for optimal health or something. My body wanted to go a little slower than the circle moved and I found myself speeding up to keep time. Or is that the point?

• by abhinai on 2/7/24, 6:02 PM

  Did it really help?