Taking study breaks throughout the day is essential to the way you revise and learn. Your brain can only concentrate for a certain amount of time, so eventually you will lose concentration and switch off which makes your work pointless. A study breaks gives your mind the chance to relax and reboot, making the work or revision you are doing more sufficient than when you don’t take one. Here are some ways on how you can spend your study break and how they will help you.
Eat some food – Do not just go and eat the first edible thing you can find, there are certain foods that can help with your brain. Have a punnet of berries in your break as they contain anthocyanins. This is found in vibrant fruit and vegetables, such as blueberries and strawberries, as anthocyanin is the pigment that gives them the colour. Blueberries are an appropriate snack as they are full of vitamins and with anthocyanin, they are said to help brain performance. If you are more of a vegetable person, purple sweet potatoes help keep the brain healthy.
Drink some water – Staying hydrating is one of the most important ways to use your study break. Headaches, dizziness and many more symptoms can occur if you do not drink a sufficient amount of water. You are not going to get much work done when you have a pounding headache and cannot think straight. If you are working eight to nine hours a day, have seven or eight 15 minute breaks and in each break drink one full glass of water. Also, water helps deliver all those nutrients you consumed from your snack break around the body.
Check your phone – Scratch that itch to scroll through Tik Tok or message a friend by taking 15 minutes to check your phone. When you are doing work that you do not enjoy, the temptation to entertain yourself by checking your phone can become irresistible. However, make sure to set a timer that will notify you when your break is over. You do not want to get carried away and lose track of time.
Toilet break – You are definitely not going to be able to concentrate when you are desperate for the toilet. Also, it is quite unhygienic to stop your body from doing what it naturally needs to do.
Read a chapter – Use some escapism to give your mind a break. Too many real-world issues or work may fry your brain, so instead of working on your own story read someone else’s. Reading is said to lower your blood pressure, which helps your body relax. To be in a state of total relaxation is exactly what you need when studying.
Sit in the garden – Or if you live in a flat or the student halls, take a trip to the courtyard. Some fresh air is another way to lower your blood pressure and relax. Apparently, “Higher oxygen levels mean more of it circulates to your brain.” This will help with your focus and you will find studying easier. If you have anxiety about going outside, stand by an open window. Also, getting some sun is beneficial in many ways. Sunlight can make the body produce serotonin, which can help you feel focused.
Do a house chore – Sometimes, doing something domestic like a chore can help bring back some normality. It may be tedious to sit at your desk all day with your hand getting cramps from all the typing and writing. Try doing some tidying as that will get you up and walking about. Then you are killing two birds with one stone, you are getting chores done and taking a break.
Listen to music – By music, I mean classical music. As boring as that may sound, any heavy base music or lyrics are a distraction to your work. Like many other techniques on this list, classical music can help with relaxation. There is no heavy base, intense sound or fast lyrics that will increase your heartbeat. Also, a study (2007) by Stanford University School of Medicine, showed that specifically, classical music can help with the absorption of information into the brain.
Draw/colour – Once again, drawing and colouring are another method of helping yourself relax. Freestyling on a piece of paper can get your brain thinking again,