What Genetic Testing Taught Me About My Own Focus
For most of my life I didn't think of focus as a problem. It was simply how my mind worked. Even in my school years, it always felt as though I had a dozen tabs open at once, thoughts flying around, and getting through one task without starting three others was surprisingly difficult. I was so used to it that it never occurred to me things could be any other way.
What eventually changed my thinking came from an unrelated direction. As a Registered Nutritional Therapist, I have a long-standing interest in preventive health - I run bloods regularly, do a full-body MRI each year, and generally like to understand what's happening in my body before anything becomes a problem. Genetic testing was the one piece I hadn't done, so it felt like the natural next step.
I wasn't looking for an explanation for my focus. But when I sat down to analyse my results, one of the things that stood out was choline. My genetics point to a reduced ability to synthesise choline on my own (a gene called PEMT, if you like the detail) which in plain terms means I synthesise less choline than most people do.
There's a dietary side to this too. I'm pescatarian, so the very richest sources - liver and organ meats especially, along with red meat and poultry - aren't on my plate, which leaves eggs and fish doing the heavy lifting. A lower ability to synthesise choline, layered on a diet that skips its densest sources, is a lot to ask from food alone.
What choline has to do with focus
Chlorine doesn't come up much in conversations about concentration, but the link is fairly direct. Your body uses choline to make acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter closely involved in attention, memory and mental clarity. If your requirement for choline is higher than average and you aren't meeting it, it isn't hard to imagine that the systems that rely on it start running suboptimally.
I'll be honest about the evidence: in the general population, supplementing choline does relatively little for focus, largely because most people already get enough, and the research in healthy adults is mixed. What made my situation different was the starting point. Most people in those studies already have plenty of choline, so adding more changes little. I had a genetic reason to need more than I was making, which is a different situation.
Once I understood that, the answer was simple: get more choline in. Food comes first - eggs and fish, with liver and organ meats the richest sources of all for anyone who eats them - and a targeted choline supplement to close the gap. I want to be clear that this was a personal decision built around my own results, not a general recommendation. Choline supplementation isn't automatically right for everyone, and if you're curious about it, it's worth talking through with someone who knows your history.
What shifted when I addressed it
For me, the foundations were already solid: sleep, blood sugar, movement, the basics I'll come to shortly. What the genetic results gave me was a targeted supplement strategy that sat on top of all that, built around what my own biology needed, and after two to three months that's what took things from fine to optimal: steadier mental energy, more clarity, and noticeably sharper concentration. I won't call it proof - it's just my experience. But it was convincing enough to redirect my work: I went on to train in nutrigenomics so I could offer clients the same kind of personalisation that had shifted things for me.
The foundations that hold focus for anyone
Genetics gave me a particular reason to look at choline, but I'd never suggest a supplement is where focus begins. For almost everyone, the foundations matter far more, and it's where I start with any client.
Sleep comes first, without competition. You can't expect to wake up sharp on the back of a poor night, and nothing else quite makes up for it. As an insatiably curious person, I fell happily into tracking mine with a wearable. I know the accuracy is debatable, and that plenty of people report a nocebo effect, but for me it's been a useful nudge towards protecting my sleep rather than treating it as negotiable.
Blood sugar is next, and one of the most overlooked factors for focus. When your blood sugar is on a rollercoaster - a sharp spike followed by the inevitable crash - you've created the perfect conditions for an energy slump and a foggy mind. Building meals around protein, fibre and healthy fats, rather than fast carbohydrates on their own, keeps things steadier, and steadier blood sugar tends to mean steadier attention.
Movement matters too, though not in the way people assume. It's less about an hour at the gym and more about movement snacks through the day - it gives the brain a break, and more often than not you come back sharper than when you left.
Eating enough is another one that often gets missed. If you're under-fuelling throughout the day - skipping meals, running on coffee, eating too little to actually meet your needs - your brain is one of the first to feel it. A protein and fibre-forward first meal, rather than coffee on an empty stomach, sets a steadier tone for the hours that follow, and simply taking in enough over the day gives your brain the fuel it needs.
A few smaller things earn their place too: staying properly hydrated, keeping caffeine to earlier in the day so it isn't quietly undermining tonight's sleep, and getting some daylight early on, which helps set the rhythm everything else runs on.
For most of my life I never thought to ask why my focus worked the way it did - it was just me. Genetic testing gave me somewhere specific to look, a reason sitting in my own biology. That's what I've come to value about it: it can turn a vague sense that something's off into something precise enough to act on. The fundamentals still do most of the work, which is why they take up most of this piece; genetic insight sits on top of them, and for the right person at the right time, it's often the piece that makes everything else finally click.
Words by Marilia Chamon for The Well Edit.
The content published by The Well Edit is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as, and should not be relied upon as, a substitute for professional medical, health, nutritional, legal, or financial advice. While articles may reference insights from qualified practitioners or experts, the views expressed are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Well Edit. Always seek the guidance of a qualified professional before making changes to your diet, lifestyle, supplementation, or healthcare routine.
Use of any information provided is at your own discretion and risk.
