Whenever you’re short on time, you might be tempted to force yourself to push through until you finish that assignment. After all, the more time you spend on the task at hand, the faster you’ll be done, right? That’s just common sense.
Well, in reality, working nonstop is actually counterproductive if you’re engaging in cognitively taxing tasks. (Yes, studying is one of those tasks.) Keep reading to discover why taking breaks is by no means a waste of time.
Why Are Brain Breaks Important? What Science Says
To put it simply, human brains aren’t made to stay concentrated and alert 100% of your waking time. In fact, your brain follows a basic rest-activity cycle multiple times throughout the day in what’s known as an ultradian rhythm. The cycle involves a high-alertness phase (90 minutes), followed by a 20-minute low-alertness phase. Rinse and repeat.
That’s why you naturally feel drained after chipping away at a task for an hour and a half non-stop. That said, you might want to opt for taking breaks while studying even more frequently than every 90 minutes. That’s because your working memory tends to decline after 20 to 30 minutes of high cognitive load.
Yes, it’s counterintuitive, but it’s a fact: taking a break will help you regain focus, think more clearly, and learn new skills.
What Are the Benefits of Taking Regular Breaks?
A concentration boost isn’t the only perk of taking a break every once in a while. Turning it into a habit can also help ward off burnout, improve your physical and mental health, and even boost your creativity.
1. Avoiding Burnout
Academic burnout is, unfortunately, a real danger to your mental health. It manifests itself through long-running exhaustion, decreased performance, and even physical symptoms like sleep issues. Maintaining a good balance between personal and academic activities lowers stress levels, helping avoid burnout in the long run.
2. Boosting Creativity
Have you spent tons of time trying to crack a problem, only to find the solution while doing chores? That’s the power of taking breaks: shifting focus or just letting your mind wander enables your brain to make unexpected connections. That’s what being creative is all about!
3. Improving Mental Health
Emotional stress and mental health challenges are the main reasons why U.S. students consider abandoning their studies. Regular breaks help prevent that stress by taking you out of the firefighting mode for a short while.
Keep in mind: prolonged stress also leads to a whole plethora of negative effects on your mental health, including anxiety and depression.
4. Strengthening Relationships
Talking to your friends and loved ones is a common way to pass a break. And, of course, it’s a no-brainer that checking in with them and spending quality time helps strengthen your relationships. It also wards off feelings of loneliness, which you should pay attention to if you’re among the 50% of college students who struggle with them.
5. Improving Physical Health
Taking regular breaks makes cognitively taxing tasks more manageable, boosts your energy levels, and helps you accomplish more. That, in turn, lowers stress levels. Remember: stress can impact your physical health, causing sleep problems, fatigue, headaches, and even a weakened immune response.
Not All Breaks Are Equally Effective
When it’s time for a break, your first reflex might be to reach for your phone and open a social media app. Fight that instinct; one study confirmed that phone breaks are still cognitively demanding. The participants who used their phones during a break needed more time to complete tasks and could solve fewer problems, compared to the control group.
Work-related micro-breaks are also not always effective. While you might think shifting your focus to an easier task could help you recover focus, one study found that such breaks negatively impacted mood, well-being, and sleep quality.
So, to recap, avoid taking breaks that involve:
- Browsing the internet
- Scrolling social media
- Responding to emails
- Working on other academic tasks
The Many Kinds of Effective Breaks
Now that we’ve covered what’s better not to do during a break if you want it to be replenishing, let’s answer your burning question: How should you spend your break? The good news is, you can choose from many options:
But… How Often Should You Take a Break When Studying?
It depends on how much work you have ahead of you, how tired or stressed you feel at the moment, and whether you’re “in the zone.” So, check in with yourself to determine whether you need a break.
That said, as a rule of thumb, strive to take a 10-minute break every 45 to 50 minutes of studying. If you have a lot of studying ahead of you, plan for longer breaks, too (30 to 60 minutes every three hours).
What Is the Pomodoro Method, and How Can It Help?
The Pomodoro study method is a close cousin to the rule of thumb we described above, except that it involves shorter breaks and shorter work sessions. Here’s how it works:
- Set a timer for 25 minutes
- Work on the task until it goes off
- Take a five-minute break
- Rinse and repeat up to four times
- After the fourth cycle, take a longer break (15 to 30 minutes)
Worth Mentioning: Why Recess Matters in Schools
All the benefits of taking breaks we’ve mentioned above are exactly why recess is so important for students of any age. A student taking a break regularly will be more attentive, engaged, and focused, which can help them perform better academically.
But that’s not all. Recess is also a time when students can play, engage in physical activity, and socialize. In other words, without recess, students would have less time to interact with others and stay physically active. That would negatively impact their physical, social, and emotional development.
Plus, without an opportunity to “blow off steam” during recess, some students might find it more difficult to behave themselves in the classroom. Problematic behaviors can disrupt learning for everyone.
Final Thoughts
You might be tempted to sit down and keep grinding until you finish what needs to be done. But that will probably make you feel stressed or overwhelmed in the long run. Besides, you’ll need more time to complete these tasks if you don’t let your mind rest and relax.
So, remember to take advantage of the many benefits of taking a break. Schedule those breaks or add them to your to-do list on par with assignments and test prep: they’re just as important!
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