A Scientific Argument for Short Breaks and Naps

Описание: Discover the unique brain mechanism that makes short breaks an effective technique for learning.
---

There are two types of people in the world: Those who love power naps, and those who don’t know it yet.

Simply by virtue of our daily experience, it’s generally understood that taking short breaks and/or cat naps is an effective way to help our minds tackle new ideas and absorb new information.

In fact, as teachers and parents know, telling a frustrated child to ‘take a break’ is well-worn technique for helping them achieve success when they are learning something new.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any good reasons for why short breaks work … and herein lies the problem.

When we don’t know precisely why something works, we may be less inclined to believe and/or use it.

In my latest From Theory to Practice video, I explore a piece of research that can fix this problem by helping us better understand (from a mechanistic standpoint) why short breaks and naps are so beneficial to learning:

RESEARCH: Consolidation of Human Skill Linked To Hippocampo-Neocortical Replay (Ethan R. Buch et al)

Here are some of the questions I tackle in this installment:

-- We know the hippocampus helps us consolidate memories while we’re asleep, but how does it activate while we’re awake?
-- Approximately what percentage of new learning takes place during active learning versus during the short, intermediate breaks we often take in between?
-- What is spacing, and how does it function on a micro-scale during active learning?
-- How can this research help us better comprehend the learning transfer issue (i.e. transfer narrows with automaticity)?

Give it a watch, and let me know what you think in the comments.

And, as always, if you find this video valuable, interesting and/or entertaining, you can support our channel by liking, sharing and subscribing ;)

#PowerNaps #MicroBreaks

---

JARED COONEY HORVATH | PhD, MEd

Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath is an award-winning cognitive neuroscientist, best-selling author and renowned keynote speaker with an expertise in human learning, memory, and brain stimulation.

Dr. Horvath has published 4 books, over 30 research articles, and currently serves as an honorary researcher at the University of Melbourne and St. Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne.

His research has been featured in popular publications including The New York Times, WIRED, BBC, The Economist, PBS's Nova and ABC’s Catalyst.

https://www.lmeglobal.net/media​

---

LME GLOBAL

LME Global is a mission-driven company aiming to serve teachers, students and educators through applied brain science.