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Let's face it, life isn't as easy as we imagine it to be. We all face numerous difficulties to get where we are today. Numerous students often face depression, burnout, and lack of motivation for different reasons. Either reviewing class lessons, finishing homework assignments, and studying for tests. This takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication from students. With all this hard work happening outside of school, it’s important to take time to relax and effectively take breaks. That is why both your school and family/friends are often influencing you to take breaks to re-energize your body and help clear your mind.
Why should you take breaks when studying?
Studies show that taking breaks can boost productivity and improve creativity. By taking time to gather your thoughts, both your mind and body would feel refreshed. In addition, eases the stress and exhaustion arising from working a long period of time. Taking breaks is more important than people give it credit for. That is why both students and employees have lunch breaks. Taking a simple 15 - 30 minute break would help both students and adults better retain the information they have learned or gathered, and improve their mental/physical health.
Why should you take a break from social media?
We as teenagers are often glued to our phones or rely to heavily on social media for our day to day life. There is nothing wrong with using your phone to have a friendly conversation with your friends, however if you feel your social media accounts are out of control. You are most likely feeling depression, low self-esteem, body image issyes, anxiety, social isolation, and the list goes on. It can even lead to eating disorders and self-harm behaviors.
Here are some suggestions:
Set limits by tracking your social media time- there are tons of apps out there that can track your social media time and help monitor and control how much time you spend on social media. Set a goal for yourself, that will help you set limits on your phone so you take healthy breaks from social media.
Turn off notifications and set virtual boundaries for yourself- turn off all social media notifications on your phone so you don't feel triggered to check your Instagram or Snapchat whenever you receive a new notification. You should use your break to do more productive actions that would help you stay motivated.
Why is taking breaks important?
To prevent a build-up of stress that can lead to burnout and procrastination. When you’re tired from a day of working hard and upholding constant self-motivation, your brain feels exhausted. This can lead you to procrastinate on major projects you might have planned for the latter part of the day. For students, studying can be physically hard on the body and children especially find it difficult to sit still for long periods at a time. Take some time to move around and stretch to work off that extra energy.
Ideas for your next break:
Get up and stretch/ do yoga/ exercise
Go outside to take a short walk alone or with friends
Hang out or call your friends
Take a snack break
Listen to Music
Read a book or watch something funny
Look outside your window
Take a quick nap
Drive somewhere
Go to the park
Draw/ paint/ sketch
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