How to take breaks the right way

Okay, we all know we need to take pauses to be able to function. And the way you take these pauses is up to you, if you go for the feeling, you use pomodoro or even another method. But what you do during these pauses also matters, and matters a lot. 

The first thing is avoiding your phone or social medias or anything that sucks you in a time portal where you only get out 5 hours later. You should be able to do those things, and enjoy them, they are not a problem. The problem is losing your track of time and feeling bad for that. 

The best way to really use your pauses is taking care of yourself, your health, both mental and physical should be your top priority (take this as a tip for life, if you don't treat yourself right your body can shut down). So let's check some things I like or think are helpful to do:

1. Drink and Eat.

Nothing comes from nothing. You use energy to study, and one way to get energy is ingesting stuff. Drink some water, maybe some tea, or even coffee (just know that too much of something is always bad). I recomend health snacks, like fruits, nuts, carrots, but you may also reward yourself with some chocolate and chips. If you are really hungry, take a big break and have a meal, remember you need to be able to function. And please, also drink water while studying.

2. Naps!

YOU. CAN. NOT. DO. SOMETHING. PROPERLY. WHEN. YOU. ARE. TIRED. 

Naps are not the enemy, 5 to 20 minutes are fine, and you'll be more productive afterwards. They're not called powernaps without a reason. But if you go past 20 minutes... you won't be able to wake up all refreshed easily. Don't take this with fear, you body should know when you are really tired, but you can also set an alarm.

3. Moviment.

Get up, walk a little, do push-ups, jumping jacks, skip rope, run to the bathroom, strech! If you can go to another place, so you can feel more at peace and your environment you keep you from thinking about work. Exercise impacts  your serotonin (the thing that tells your brain to be happy) levels. And sitting looking down, writing for long periods of time can make you feel sore. You can just get up sometimes and combat the bad stuff.

4. Dance.

This one may be biased, but I always feel better after dancing. You don't need to know how to dance, you don't need to use techniques or dance well. Just put some music and let your body move the way it wants. It also count as the moviment tip above, and you can explore your creativit with music.

(you dance, you explore your body, you learn about yourself and it may help you love yourself more)

5. Lay down.

Against everything else, just lay down and close your eyes. It's not a nap, but there's studies that it also helps relaxing your body and you feel rested.

6. Journal.

Take a notebook, do a drawing or write something, do a collage. Just go with what you needs, I'm also a big fan of morning pages and just putting all your thoughts on paper so your mind can be free. If you are worried about a lot of things and can't focus you put it on a paper, and you can free your brain. NICE!

7. Accept the bad days.

You can't be productive all the time, bad days happen everyone haves them you are not a fake or a failure for having a bad day, or heck even a bad month. You can aways try again when you are better. Every second that passes can be a new start if you want. There's no need to wait for January first or monday to get your motivation back. 

But listen when you body tells you to stop. Burnout is serious, and I don't wish that for anyone. 

And there you have, some tips to spend quality time between study breaks. 

Bye bye!