How to Take Effective Breaks Essay Example

Even as a student, you can't study all the time. In fact, we learn better by switching gears frequently. Effective Break as any period of time formal or informal. Even when you work hard, it's important to take a few breaks throughout the day. Sometimes we know there's the better way to do things, but we are just so busy to study or working even think we have to take a four-minute break. That's how I saw things. And then I discovered the power of taking breaks when I am studying or working. They made me happier, more focused, and more productive, and I bet they can do the same for you. Come along and discover the science of why we need breaks at work or school. I create my own master schedule and what to do on my hard earned break. I will make you read, and understand by the following lines why we need breaks at work and school.

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The basic process in taking effective breaks begins with planning for the timeouts. Successful people understand their time schedules and plan for the breaks. Precisely, it involves scheduling the day, charting out time for breaks, and planning for days to be off. This happens in advance before engaging in the activities that could lead to mental exhaustion. Importantly, the key reason for planning for breaks is not about following specific plans but generally having a plan that acts as a guide to the breaks. Therefore, different people will have varying preferences on the appropriate schedules of taking breaks in studies or at work. However, the key issue if setting up proper structures for the breaks and understanding the frequency at which the breaks should be taken.

It is vital to know the best frequency at which one takes breaks. This is highly determined by the intensity of the mental work performed by individuals. Generally, it is advised to take breaks in every 50 minutes (Zhu, Kuykendall & Zhang 7). High levels of concentration and focus on both studies and work ultimately lead to improved creativity and productivity. As a result, concentration is key to enhancing efficiency at work. Therefore, this implies that more energy is consumed at work by involving more mental efforts. With this in mind, taking breaks often at an average of 50 minutes renews the mental energy and stamina that is crucial for realizing improved productivity at work (Zhu, Kuykendall & Zhang 8). Significantly, taking a break of approximately 17 minutes at every frequency is essential for perfectly improving productivity at work. Accordingly, while taking the breaks with this time duration in mind, individuals should understand what to engage in so that they avoid exhausting their brains in the breaks. Additionally, a person needs to evaluate the difficulty of the task before determining the suitable time for the breaks, for instance, effective breaks entail longer time durations for complex tasks while shorter durations are allocated for tasks with minimal complexity.

Effective breaks require individual discipline. This encompasses strict adherence to the schedules and the manner in which the breaks should be taken. It is crucial to strictly observe break times even if a person feels like it is unnecessary at a particular time. Some people find themselves much busy to the extent that they avoid engaging in regular with a focus on completing the tasks. As a result, individuals risk in getting trapped into fatigue in the event of accomplishing their activities. Therefore, it is important to take breaks on regular occasions in order to avoid hitting the obstacles of fatigue. Typically, this gives individuals chances to rest the brain and recover the mental stamina before resuming on work in order to complete the remaining tasks. Accordingly, discipline on breaks entails fully disconnecting the mind from the activities it was held in. People should avoid the bad habits of taking breaks which include sitting at the desks, inclining back on chairs, and getting engaged in social media conversations and email chatting. This outlines the bad habits of timeouts which illustrate that the brains still get occupied. As a result, taking effective breaks should entail the entire physical and mental disconnection from the activities that potentially lead to fatigue. Therefore, individuals need to disconnect their brains and eyes from the communication streams, digital devices, or any other objects that were involved in the work.

Importantly, taking effective breaks demands to shift attention and to stop unnecessary concentration that will keep the mind working. While at work or study, a person's brain is highly centered on mechanisms of completing the scheduled activities and tasks. In addition, tasks with high technicalities require high levels of concentration. As a result, the brain is involved in thinking which potentially lead to mental exhaustion. Therefore, by shifting the attention and concentration from the work or studies, the mental ability of an individual gets refreshed and relaxed in the event of the break. This greatly improves mental and psychological performance when a person resumes the work or studies after the break. In effect, a solution may be easily established for the problem that seemed difficult while on mental fatigue.

Accordingly, taking effective breaks is done by allowing the blood to circulate in the body system. Generally, this requires a person to physically move around the body away from the place of work or study desk. Prolonged study and working times are unhealthy for individuals. As a result, taking effective breaks by moving the body around enables a person to create psychological distinctions between break time and working time. While in the breaks, it is significant to engage in physical exercise that has been scientifically proven to secrete dopamine as well as serotonin neurotransmitters which in effect lead to improved mood and reduced mental disorders. Accordingly, this enhances the performance of memory which is vital for improving productivity and efficiency at work.

Another aspect of taking effective breaks encompasses socializing with the people close to you. When on the breaks, people are required to interact with persons they know well and whom they share a good rapport. By interacting with close people such as family members, friends, and co-workers, a person is able to experience a reduction in mental anxiety and stress in addition to boosting the mood. Accordingly, socializing may involve exchanging of brief messages via text messages or phone calls, particularly to people who are far away from your physical destination. This abundantly enhances the psychological preparedness for engaging in a mind-intensive work or study activities. Substantially, socializing is key to refreshing and relieving the brain which is important to readying for a new task or continuing with the previously paused activity. However, socializing should not involve excessive use of screen time because it leads to continued straining of the eyes. This, therefore, continues to contribute on physical and mental exhaustion. Moreover, when socializing at workplace or study environment, individuals should avoid engaging in heated debates because they do not contribute to psychological relief. Thus, socializing while on breaks is only effective if the partners are in a friendly mood.

When taking effective breaks, individuals should keenly observe their nutritional habits. While on breaks, a person may be interested in consuming meals, especially on long timeouts such as lunch breaks (Zhu, Kuykendall & Zhang 12). It is highly advisable to grab snacks rather than junks of foods while on such breaks. This prevents exhausting the body through digestion of huge volumes of foods that could cause sleepiness in an individual. Importantly, the foods consumed on break times should contain high levels of carbohydrates and healthy fats such as fruits, lean proteins, and vegetables which restore energy for progressing with the work or studies. Poor dietary habits while on breaks should be discouraged because they could affect the flow of blood in the body thus adversely impacting on the person's mental performance.

Taking effective breaks could also focus on attaining pleasures through appropriate entertainment. For instance, you could listen to favorite music or watch entertaining video clips while on the breaks. Accordingly, dancing while listening to the music could also enhance the mental relaxation and refreshment. However, entertainment should not be overdone because it could cause unnecessary distractions and fatigue. Another soothing activity that could be used during breaks involves taking naps which last for short durations of less than 20 minutes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, concentration and focus on work and studies are crucial for every person. However, there is a need to consider the different aspects that should be used in order to relieve the body and enhance the mindset for progressing with the tasks. This is only realized through taking effective breaks. The importance of taking effective breaks concerns the productivity and efficiency of performing the work or studies. In taking effective breaks, people should understand how many breaks to take, how long the breaks should take, and the activities to engage in while on the breaks. Therefore, for individuals involved in mind-intensive tasks, it is significant to observe routine and regular breaks. Importantly, time management should be key to ensuring effective breaks.

Works cited

Zhu, Z., Kuykendall, L., & Zhang, X. (2018). The impact of withinday work breaks on daily recovery processes: An eventbased pre/postexperience sampling study. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.