When was the last time you did nothing?
You’re probably reading this on your phone, head down, neck bent. You are clearly engaging your brain: different lobes help you perceive visual stimuli and perceive words. Language processing centers and higher order thinking understand all this. The more interesting you find this piece, the more cognitive you will be attention is taken. Intellectual stimulation is good, but doing nothing at all may be better for you.
As an academic, I talk to students a lot about recess. Breaks can be effective for learning. Students were less tired and had more energy after any type of break, but a break from training also affected short-term attention and was beneficial for up to 20 minutes compared to no break at all (Blasche et al., 2018). Taking physical breaks during a 50-minute lecture improved students’ concentration and performance compared to playing a computer game during the same breaks or taking no breaks (Fenesi et al., 2018). Even yoga can have this effect on students. motivation to continue the lecture (Young-Jones et al., 2022).
You can say that you walk while taking music breaks or listening to podcasts. Is this good? A nice head-to-head comparison of different breaks, such as music, reading, or doing nothing, contrasted some common non-phone breaks (Ito and Takahashi, 2020). University students solved as many mathematical calculation problems as possible in three 15-minute study sessions separated by three-minute breaks. The “do nothing” group had the highest average correct response rate. The “listening to music” and “doing nothing” groups showed better results than the “reading” group. In a similar study, students first completed some math problems designed to tax them. One group of students then took an unstructured, nature-based, technology-free five-minute break. The other group went straight into math class. Students in the relaxed state paid more attention in the next math class (Guinness et al., 2023). Obviously, some breaks are better than others.
Research on breaks has shown that even taking a break from studying one subject to study another can help. For example, Liu et al. (2021) students had to listen to music or watch a documentary. The results showed that watching short-form videos significantly improved the participants’ mood and readiness to perform tasks, with physiological relief. stressand completing the task at hand. I should note that a possible downside to the results of this study is that short videos on phones may lead to more phone searches. How about a life with less time spent on the phone? Too boring?
It has value boredom and doing nothing, both allow time for ideas to incubate and creativity flourish (Kets de Vries and Manfred, 2014). Boredom can actually be beneficial feelingand experiencing it plays an important role in our thinking. Today it is connected consumerismbecause people shop more when they’re bored, but it can be a catalyst for self-reflection.to knowand creativity (Finkielsztein, 2023). In fact, doing a boring task can boost creativity (Saravanan et al., 2026).
By doing nothing, you give up the emotional demands of screens on your mind, and that mental space can make you a better reader. In one study of pianists, students took a short break after practicing certain notes while the researchers measured their brain activity (Book and others. 2021 year). Then when they practiced again, their performance was better than when they didn’t take a break from doing nothing. Brain scans showed activity in the hippocampus, the area responsible for this memory, during a break to do nothing. Research like this shows that creating space for thinking doesn’t just reduce cognitive load: it can actually improve learning.
The next time you’re standing in line at the grocery store, waiting for a flight at the airport, or needing to run errands, try something new. Don’t do anything. Just be. Doing nothing can lead to more.
