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You’ve probably been there before, working hard on your job
until your brain gets all mushy and fuzzy.
A little break would be fantastic to restart everything up,
but squeezing a break in the schedule is hard.
But research has shown that taking breaks might be beneficial for you!
So, join me on a little break.
Of course, sometimes breaks aren't possible.
But often, we choose to skip breaks even when they’re a totally viable option!
Some research from the UK published in 2020 examined
why people sometimes skip breaks.
The researchers interviewed participants about
their break-taking behavior in a focus-group setting.
They found there weren’t just two groups of break-takers and break-skippers,
it was way more fluid than that.
Some folks thought they could squeeze more out of their day
if they didn’t take breaks.
But those same participants did sometimes take breaks
if it involved hanging with their coworkers.
Others who took breaks at their desk felt anxious about taking breaks because
others might think they were slacking or someone could assign more work to them.
So if breaks didn’t have a tangible benefit, like an outing with coworkers,
then folks didn’t seem to take one.
Because even though they were entitled to a break,
there was still pressure to be productive.
So taking breaks might seem like a waste of time
because it doesn’t lead to progress,
but breaks can have a very positive effect on your work and you!
In a study from 2017, scientists looked at 87 university students
performing a complex task: train routing.
Students had four parallel railway lines with intersections
and switches to move trains between the lines.
They had to route trains and prevent them from crashing for 40 whole minutes.
A pretty stressful task if you ask me!
The participants were broken into two groups:
the No-Break group, where they work on the task for 40 minutes straight,
or the Break group, where they could have
a few minutes break at the 20-minute mark.
During the break, students in the Break group could get slotted into a silent break,
to choose how they spent their break however they liked
or to a music break where they could watch or listen to...Coldplay.
Because who doesn’t like Coldplay, I mean...You know that one that goes like-
Youuuu areeee...multiple times.
You know what, forget it.
During the study, scientists measured participants’ subjective workload,
or, how hard they felt the task was.
And participants that directed trains and prevented some crashes
for the whole 40 minutes, without a break, felt that
the task was harder compared to folks that took a break.
The students in the No Break group were also less accurate with their train routing.
If boosting your accuracy with trains while listening to Coldplay isn’t really your thing,
well maybe boosting your test scores is.
One study from 2016 found that test scores varied
depending on the time of day students were tested:
later in the day, test scores dropped, because
earlier activities were draining their mental resources.
But scientists found that, on average,
a short break of 20 to 30 minutes improved scores.
So, breaks also helped with long-term recall tasks like tests.
And to study for those long tests, you need to have a sharp memory!
Guess what - breaks can help with that too.
Researchers monitored participants’ brain activity during a typing task,
they were shown a series of numbers on a screen and typed as much as they could
with their left hand for 10 seconds.
They then took a 10-second break.
And researchers observed patterns in the brain’s activity indicating that
most of the skill learning took place during those 10-second breaks
which involved memory consolidation processes.
Because when you learn something new,
your brain needs a hot minute to strengthen the neural connections for that new skill.
Generally, psychologists associate sleeping with solidifying new skills,
but it seems we can also solidify new skills during short breaks while we’re awake.
Maybe we should change that old saying from ‘practice makes perfect’
to ‘I’m just gonna take five’.
So small breaks, like watching this video,
can help you in multiple ways during work, like focusing and memory.
You’d do well to remember that you might just get further,
and feel better, by taking a few quick breaks.
Just, don’t fall down any cat video rabbit holes.
But one rabbit hole you should definitely check out while taking a break
is learning a new language and what better way than
with our sponsor of today’s episode, Babbel!
Babbel is the #1 language learning app in the world and
currently offers 14 different languages and is designed to help you
navigate real-life conversations after only five hours of practice.
Their courses, designed by language experts, incorporate vocabulary
and grammar skills used in the day-to-day,
like asking for a little break or directions when you’re exploring a new city.
And as a thanks to SciShow viewers,
you’ll get six months free when you sign up for six months.
Click the link in the description for this special offer.
If you want to check them out, they also have Babbel Live,
which are classes that are now available with
real-life native language speaking teachers for an additional fee.
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