
Walking not only helps get your heart pumping, a 2021 study published in NeuroImage found it can also improve your cognitive function.

Take Yourself (or Your Dog) for a Quick Walk If you’re looking for study breaks that don’t involve using your smartphone, below you’ll find eight ideas that can refresh your mind. Taking a few minutes to check your text messages or log onto your social media accounts is fine, as long as you don’t accidentally burn an hour checking out cat memes. Study Break Ideas You Can Use to Regain FocusĪllowing yourself a much-needed study break is an assuredly good thing but be sure to stay on track. However, if you’ve spent the past three hours working on a paper, a 30-minute study break may work better. Cirillo recommends students take a five-minute study break every 25 minutes. Developed in the late 1980s by university student Francesco Cirillo, the technique involves breaking tasks up into small, bite-sized pieces rather than trying to tackle entire projects at once. The Pomodoro Technique is a popular time management tool that encourages people to break larger tasks into smaller ones. Allowing yourself some mental downtime during study sessions may allow you to learn more effectively. Their study reported that wakeful rest (i.e., taking breaks) has been shown to improve retention of new information and skills. In 2021, researchers at the National Institutes of Health announced that taking short breaks is key to learning.


The benefits of taking study breaks aren’t anecdotal - they’re backed by science. Scheduling small distractions to give your mind a break can help you be more successful. Taking breaks not only helps improve concentration but also improves retention. While some students may feel that cramming or a marathon study session is the best way to prepare for an exam, science says otherwise. Numerous benefits are associated with taking study breaks.
