Brain Breaks for Productivity
Do you ever find yourself so “in the zone” that all of a sudden, a couple hours go by and you’ve barely even noticed? Or how about the opposite - you’re so completely distracted that a couple hours go by and you have not been very productive. Your goal was to complete three things in one hour and you barely made it through one. Either way, we need brain breaks throughout our work or study days.
The more time we are expected to focus on something, the harder it gets to do so at our full potential. Taking short breaks can boost attention and performance (Grippo, 2017). I’m not talking about a 30 minute break. I’m talking about just 5-10 minutes. I’m also not talking about the kind of breaks that involve eating a sugary snack or looking at Instagram or Facebook. A break that is going to help is completely shifting your focus from the subject you’re working on. This break should also involve something that will bring positive emotions. These positive emotions are going to counteract the negative ones you might experience while working and actually increase the blood flow in parts of the brain that are used to focus (Grippo, 2017).
Furthermore, breaks can actually improve motivation. Some tasks can be challenging! If we can take our minds off the task for just a few moments, it’s been shown that this helps improve motivation for that task later. Studies have also shown that these short breaks can help improve memory and learning. It gives our brain time to catch up and process what we’re doing (Selig, 2017).
A few types of breaks that would actually be helpful include the following. Meditation. There are plenty of apps and websites that guide you through a 5-minute meditation or teach you how to do it yourself. This kind of break is especially useful when you’re stressed. Physical activity is another good break. Go on a walk for a couple minutes at work. If you’re in school, can you go the long way between periods? Another way to take a break is to help someone else with something (Grippo, 2017). Recently, during studying, someone else in my class texted me with a question and we worked on it together for about 10-15 minutes. By the end, I felt ready to continue studying AND understood that particular concept better. Helping someone else gives us a sense of accomplishment and those positive emotions.
Planning breaks in your day can often look like setting a time for 45 minutes-1 hour and then breaking for 5-10 minutes. On days when the focus is high, force yourself to break. When the motivation is low, use the break as a motivation to work now. We need to focus, but we also need to take care of ourselves in the process. Watch your productivity increase when you prioritize these brain breaks.
References:
Grippo, A. (2017). Why and how you should take breaks at work. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-wide-wide-world-psychology/201704/why-and-how-you-should-take-breaks-work.
Selig, M. (2017). How do work breaks help your brain? 5 Surprising answers. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/changepower/201704/how-do-work-breaks-help-your-brain-5-surprising-answers.
Challenges/Points:
Brain breaks are much needed moments of rest during our work or school day.
Brain breaks don’t look like scrolling through instagram for 30 minutes - they look like 5-10 minutes of meditation, physical activity, or helping someone else.
Look at these next few days. Try to plan some breaks in your day.
Questions:
Which one do you find yourself in the most often? The focus zone or distraction?
Have you ever tried to implement little brain breaks throughout your day?
Do these breaks seem feasible for your day?
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