The importance of taking breaks

In this week’s blog post, I talk about the importance of taking breaks. Not many people consider breaks to be an effective use of time, but they are essential! Read on to learn more!

We would all love to take a break. Regardless of what we’re doing, whether it may be school or work, a relaxing escape sounds very enticing. When it comes to studying or doing homework, breaks are even more important! There’s only so much you can get done in one sitting, and splitting up your time by taking breaks is not only effective, but also refreshing.

Let’s form a quick scenario. It’s 7 pm, and you just finished 3 hours of continuous studying for your psychology test the next day. You’re tired after a long day of school, but still have 7 more chapters to review before you can go to bed and wrap up for the day. You don’t want to it, but you push yourself to get through the final 7 chapters. And you’re done! You finish studying for that test, and are now off to bed to have a restful night of sleep.

Now, let’s tweak that scenario a bit. You complete the same amount of studying, but instead of studying for hours on end, you take a 15 minute break after each hour of studying. During those breaks, you go outside to enjoy the fresh air and freshen up before you start studying again.

In which case do you think that you would have studied more effectively and performed better overall? The answer is the second scenario. In the second case, you took refreshing breaks to help destress and relax your mind before you attempted another chapter. In the first case, you read through all of the chapters in one sitting, with no breaks to relax your mind.

Taking breaks in between studying or doing homework is essential! It not only allows you to reset and focus on something else, but also allows your mind to relax and absorb the information that you just reviewed. When you return to study, you’ll have a clear mind, and will be able to start over and repeat the process.

If you’re in a time crunch to study, it wouldn’t make much sense to be taking 15-20 minute breaks between chapters or units. Instead, limit your breaks to 4-5 minutes, but still try to spend it relaxed. Escape for a bit, and go spend time outside in the fresh air. Even if it’s only 3 minutes, you’ll feel refreshed and ready to tackle studying.

I hope you all found this post useful! Please feel free to contact me with any questions!

Until next time, bye!