Research Proves Your Brain Needs Breaks

Gloria Mark, professor of informatics at UC Irvine, explains that multitasking is bad for innovation. “Ten and a half minutes on one project,” she says, “is not enough time to think in-depth about anything.” Creative solutions often arise from allowing a sequence of altercations between dedicated focus and daydreaming.

The implication of this line of research is that providing your conscious brain time to rest enables your unconscious mind to take a shift sorting through your most complex professional challenges. A shutdown habit, therefore, is not necessarily reducing the amount of time you’re engaged in productive work, but is instead diversifying the type of w

Third, make sure you take breaks. Peter Drucker, the father of business management, talks in his book The Effective Executive about how 50-minute chunks of time are ideal for focusing on a single task.