When was the last time you did absolutely nothing?
You’re probably reading this on your phone, head down, neck bent. You’re definitely engaging your brain: the different lobes help sense visual stimuli and understand words. Language processing centers and higher level thinking understand everything. The more you engage with this passage, the greater your enlightenment attention is taken Mental 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 break, but the exercise break also had a short-term attentional effect and was beneficial up to 20 minutes later compared to no break at all (Blasche et al., 2018). Physical breaks during a 50-minute lecture compared to playing a computer game during the same breaks or taking no breaks (Fennessy et al., 2018). Even yoga can have this effect on students. motivation continue the lecture (Young-Jones et al., 2022).
You can say you take music breaks or walk while listening to podcasts. Is it good? A good head-to-head comparison of different types of breaks – music, reading or doing nothing – contrasted some common phone breaks (Ito and Takahashi, 2020). University students solved as many math calculation problems as possible in three 15-minute study sessions separated by a three-minute break. The “do nothing” group had a higher average correct response rate. Both the “listening to music” and “doing nothing” groups showed better results than the “reading” group. In a similar study, students first did some math problems designed for taxation. A group of students then took a five-minute nature-based, technology-free break. The other group was directly enrolled in the mathematics class. The students paid more attention in the mathematics lesson during the leisure time (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 another can help. For example, Liu et al. (2021) students listen to music or watch a documentary. The results showed that watching short videos significantly improved participants’ mood and readiness to engage in tasks, alleviated physiological stressand maintained the performance of the task. I should point out that one possible negative aspect of the results of this study is that short videos on phones may lead to more phone studies. How about living with less phone time? Too boring?
There is value in that boredom and doing nothing, both of which allow time for ideas to incubate and creativity bloom (Kets de Vries and Manfred, 2014). Boredom can be really useful feelingsand experiencing it plays an important role in the way we think. Today it is attached consumptionbecause people tend to shop more when they are bored, but it can also be a catalyst for reflection and self-awareness.knowledgeand creativity (Finkelstein, 2023). In fact, doing a boring task can increase creativity (Saravanan et al., 2026).
By doing nothing, you’re giving your mind a break from the sensory demands of screens, and that space to think might even make you a better learner. In one study of piano players, students took a break after practicing certain notes while researchers measured their brain activity (Book and others. 2021). When they practiced again, their performance was better than if they hadn’t taken a break to do nothing. Brain scans showed activity in the hippocampus, the area responsible memory, to do something during the break. Research like this one shows that creating this space for thinking doesn’t just reduce cognitive load: It can actually boost learning.
The next time you’re standing in line at the grocery store, waiting for a flight at the airport, or needing to run an errand, try something new. Do nothing. Just be. Doing nothing can lead to more.
