Take a five minute break every hour and a half hour break every four.....
A growing body of scientific evidence explains what many of us know from unpleasant experience: if you push yourself too hard then your brain will start to push back. Ideas that were once free flowing simply dry up, and tasks that you should be able to perform quickly become excruciatingly difficult. If you're like me, at that point, you just work harder. And that my friend is completely counterproductive. You need to give your brain, and yourself, some rest.
Tetris
Playing this visual game actually thickens the cortex and makes us more efficient thinkers! Not only that but it can reduce food cravings; and there is a growing body of evidence that show it can help reduce PTSD symptoms including flash backs. It also improves your sleep and can lead to healthier habits, so why not have a go now?
Mindfulness
Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, says that mindfulness means knowing directly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment.
"It's easy to stop noticing the world around us. It's also easy to lose touch with the way our bodies are feeling and to end up living 'in our heads' – caught up in our thoughts without stopping to notice how those thoughts are driving our emotions and behaviour," he says.
An important part of mindfulness is reconnecting with our bodies and the sensations they experience. This means waking up to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the present moment. That might be something as simple as the feel of a banister as we walk upstairs.
Mindfulness meditation involves sitting silently and paying attention to thoughts, sounds, the sensations of breathing or parts of the body, bringing your attention back whenever the mind starts to wander.It's about allowing ourselves to see the present moment clearly. When we do that, it can positively change the way we see ourselves and our lives.
Colouring
You may think that you out grew this a long time ago but colouring geometric patterns actually relieves stress.
Here are our top 5 benefits of colouring in
- Your brain experiences relief by entering a meditative state
- Stress and anxiety levels have the potential to be lowered
- Negative thoughts are expelled as you focus
- Focusing on the present helps you achieve mindfulness
- Colouring geometric patterns promotes creativity