It’s exam season, and all across the land students are sitting with their elbows on their desks and their hair clumped in their hand.
Whether you’re in your first or final year, the stresses of exam season can quickly mount. The temptation in those moments is simply to pour another cup of coffee and keep plugging away at your textbooks until the information gets into your tired, overworked brain.
Studies have found, however, that non-stop cramming doesn’t work. Instead, they recommend taking regular breaks to refresh your mind, which allow you to return to a topic and actually focus on it, rather than simply skimming over.
It might seem counterintuitive to think that walking away from studying can help you study, but science doesn’t lie. What doesn’t help though is turning to Instagram, WhatsApp or Twitter when you’re taking a study break.
Simply changing what you’re reading won’t do anything, but what can you do during your breaks? Join us as we share our top three study break ideas guaranteed to help refresh your mind.
1. Take a 20-Minute Walk in a New Direction
“What’s down that way?” is a question we’ve all asked ourselves as we make our way through the world surrounding our home, work or school. So why not put down the books, switch off the computer and go find out for yourself?
Who knows what you’ll find? It might be a great new café, a new route home or even somewhere beautiful to rest for a moment before you head back.
The joy of exploration and the feeling of the elements on your skin will quickly blow away any cobwebs that are cluttering your mind. It’s also the perfect opportunity to get stuck into that new album everyone’s been shouting about.
2. Play a Few Casino Games
Wait, what? Casino games?
Yes, because when you’re trying to get out of the studying mindset, there’s nothing quite like the thrill that comes from playing a hand or two of poker, or enjoying a few spins on a roulette wheel — it’s virtually guaranteed to wake you up.
Better yet, it’s an experience that you can enjoy anywhere, thanks to mobile support from virtually every modern online casino. Today’s top casino offers often include free spins, playing money or matched bonuses — so you don’t even need to use your own money. Several operators also have free-to-play/demo games, which will give you all the gameplay for no risk involved.
3. Call Your Funniest Friend
Cramming usually means sitting with your head in a book or staring at a screen for hours at a time, usually without speaking to anyone for hour after hour.
It can leave us locked in our heads and repeating the same mental patterns over and over again, something which rarely helps.
The solution? Taking a study break to call, have a Skype video call or Facetime somebody who never fails to make you laugh. We don’t really need to tell you how nice it is to chat with a buddy, but the benefits from a study perspective are vast.
It’ll break you out of your mental cycles, give you a fresh perspective and lift your mood considerably. Oh, and your friend gets to speak to you! How’s that for a win-win?
Try out these tips to see what works for you best — and remember, taking a breather is really important not just for your mental health but for your actual performance.
