Why brain breaks
By Bono Vaid
Picture this: you have been studying for hours and hours, and you need a break — what do you do? Have a brain break, of course. So, what are brain breaks? Brain breaks give you a moment to refresh your mind.
The RCHK Truth interviewed a number of people at RCHK about brain breaks. starting with Brendan Lee, a Year 6 teacher, Here is what he said:
Q: Why are brain breaks important?
Brain Breaks are important because they help you refresh your brain. You can only concentrate for a certain amount of time. Without regular breaks, your brain may struggle to process more information.
Why do you like brain breaks?
I like brain breaks because students and teachers can get breaks to refresh their thinking. You can also use the opportunity to go outside, which is very important as well. Personally, I think it should be part of everyday school schedules. But it is difficult to implement a fixed schedule, so as a teacher, you have to gauge whether your class needs a brain break at a particular time.
What are your favorite brain breaks?
Some of my favorite brain breaks are Captain’s Coming and Bippity Bippity Bop, both of which are commonly played games.
Now, you may be wondering: how does one do brain breaks?
I’ll use Captain’s Coming as an example. In Captain’s Coming, you need a group of people. You then need to assign a captain — the rest will be sailors. As the name suggests, you will pretend to be on a boat, and the captain will command the sailors to do certain actions.
Examples of commands include:
Captain’s coming: Salute the captain
Port: run to the left
Starboard: run to the right
Sweep the deck: get down to the floor and scrub the floor
Crow’s nest: Pretend to climb a net
X marks the spot: Make groups of 4 sailors, and make an X with your bodies
Row the boat: Groups of 2 sailors face back-to-back and pretend to row a boat.”
I then interviewed my mother for her thoughts on brain breaks.
What do you think brain breaks are?
Brain breaks allow your brain to take a break from what you are doing. For example, you may shift your attention from doing your maths homework to listening to music — pausing what you were doing and taking a break from intensive focus.”
What is your favorite brain break?
Personally, I’d like to have an easy walk outside our house, as physical movement makes me less tense.
As a parent, do you think that students should have brain breaks every day?
Definitely! Kids spend so much time at school picking up new knowledge — with so much going on in their brains, they need brain breaks everyday.
Why do you like brain breaks?
I believe in “balance”. Staying focused and attentive is important to achieve our goals. At the same time, we need to care for our physical and mental health. Being stressed will only reduce our productivity and learning efficiency. An analogy to this is that a rubber band will eventually break if you keep pulling it. But, if you loosen it from time to time, it will keep its elasticity and last longer.”
I then asked Caleb, a Year 6 student, for his thoughts on brain breaks.
What are your thoughts on brain breaks?
I think they are refreshing because they give you a moment to pause. You are then able to focus more afterwards.”
Our conclusion? Brain breaks are very important as they help people relax and focus. Brain breaks should be implemented not only in classrooms, but also as part of a daily routine. I hope this inspires you to take a brain break!
Photograph by Eduardo Flores from Unsplash