New study finds an unstructured 5-minute break can help restore attention

Medical Xpress / University of Sydney / Educational and Developmental Psychologist ^ | July 4, 2023 | Paul Ginns et al

[ConservativeMind]

Researchers set out to discover which common attention hacks really work. They found a 5-minute break from thinking is all you need to get your concentration back. There is no need for a walk along a river, or a lengthy video of bamboo forests swaying in the wind (although that could be nice). A five-minute total break will do the trick.

New research has found a simple, unstructured five-minute break from a complex task is all you need to get your concentration back or restore attention.

"If you want your work or study to be more productive, you need to build in simple five-minute breaks of doing nothing," said Associate Professor Paul Ginns. "You need to be doing something different for five minutes. Move away from your computer or device, do some breathing or just sit quietly to rest your brain from the task. Scrolling through social media does not count as rest—you need to take a break from devices."

[ConservativeMind]

This is a simple trick.

It appears going to the bathroom was not explicitly found to help.

[ConservativeMind]

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[Organic Panic]

My favorite engineering offices had a foosball table and a ping pong table. In the summer we would throw a football around or kick a soccer ball around. Even the old farts. It took a little longer than 5 minutes but it was very refreshing and a great boost to morale. Now that I am self employed, my dogs don’t let me go too long without a break as they insist they want to go play fetch or crap on the floor. My choice.....

[fruser1]

Back in the day we called this a “smoke break”.

[Ex-Con777]

This is not new research. This was taught in freshman college class as critical thinking. You need a period to let your brain “mull” the information gathered.

EC

[Ex-Con777]

I might add in 1977.

EC

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

I do that a lot, but I’ve always called it “naps.”

[pax_et_bonum]

I can not think for days at a time!

:-D