The importance of taking breaks

Mid-year exam time is well and truly here and with it, all the expected stress, tears and late-night snacks.

Thankfully, I’m now doing post-grad where, blissfully, there are no exams. But what I can offer is the lived experience of someone who spent 5 years (10 SWOTVAC periods!!!) completing a double degree and in doing so, learnt the immeasurable value of a study routine that features breaks.

Some people (me) enjoy studying at uni or a café or a library (somewhere outside of my own house), while others prefer to study from home and save the commute time. Whatever your preferred method, I always found it really beneficial and clarifying to take a break every so often. For me, this meant working in solid 45ish-minute blocks and then having a short break of 10ish minutes to take a breath, reply to messages, make a cup of tea, etc. This sort of timeframe may not suit everyone but I’d suggest trialling a few variations to see what works best for you.

I also think that a healthy and sustainable routine requires more than just a quick break here or there. For me, it always required movement. Throughout the bulk of my studies, I would typically break my days into blocks. I might spend 2-3 hours at the uni library then migrate to a café and spend the rest of my time there. Not only would this give me a way to structure my day, it allowed me to punctuate it with activities: the walk from uni to my café of choice and the knowledge that my next cup of coffee is just around the corner. These things are small but they’re important because they reassure the brain that it won’t just be stuck in the same place at the same table staring at the same screen for too long.

This might not work for everyone. Some people might just want to buckle in and get the work done. If that’s your preference, great, but for some of us, breaks are important and they should be encouraged. Don’t let the guilt of not doing something ‘productive’ all the time make you feel stressed or like you’re failing. Studying isn’t just about the work, it’s about how you feel about the work. That means listening to your body and letting it guide you.