Do you think studying for more than 30 mins in a single block is not good?

[Satchfan]

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Hi everyone
I hear almost everywhere that the human brain is no longer focused or effective after 30 minutes of studying without any breaks and besides that; it's not good for the whole body. I tried this idea and I just felt I lost my hard developed focus on my material which I gained it gradually, I feel my mind is just warmed up when I reach the 30th minute and so I think I loose the best moment of learning. I'm wondering if any of you guys feel the same as me and I'd like to know your methods.
Thanks.

P.S. I'm planning to become used to read and practice for 10-12 effective hours per day and I doubt if this method (studying for 30 minutes and then break) is gonna be useful for me?

 

[Moose A Moose]

That's ridiculous. Study for as long as you feel comfortable. Not unusual for me to go close to two hours without getting up to stretch, go outside, etc.

When I was prepping for the MCAT I'd plow through hours with minimal breaks over the course of a couple months. If you're not burning out, keep the steam going.

 

[ElectricNoogie]

Hi everyone
I hear almost everywhere that the human brain is no longer focused or effective after 30 minutes of studying without any breaks and besides that; it's not good for the whole body. I tried this idea and I just felt I lost my hard developed focus on my material which I gained it gradually, I feel my mind is just warmed up when I reach the 30th minute and so I think I loose the best moment of learning. I'm wondering if any of you guys feel the same as me and I'd like to know your methods.
Thanks.

P.S. I'm planning to become used to read and practice for 10-12 effective hours per day and I doubt if this method (studying for 30 minutes and then break) is gonna be useful for me?

Most studies show that focus, attention and ability to absorb info significantly wane after 90-180 minutes. This is simply the law of diminishing returns at play. When I was prepping for the MCAT I would take a break every 3 hours or so (30-60 min break). In med school we got a 10 minute break every hour during MS I and II. During my surgical rotations the team would also take breaks if a procedure was > 3 hours. This will keep your brain focused and able to absorb information.

Everyone is different, but studying for 12 hours straight is not likely to be effective. There were certainly days in med school when I studied 18 hours, but it was always 2-3 hours, break, 2-3 hours, break. This makes your studying more effective. It's all about quality, not quantity.

Find your ideal balance (it will likely be between 90-180 minutes). The longer you study, the longer your break should be. Even the MCAT doesn't ask you to do anything for more than 95 minutes at a time. Vary what you do, study wise. Reading chapters for several hours should be followed by practice questions. This variance keeps your brain engaged and active. You should also schedule a day off once a week so you can prevent burnout. Good luck!

 

[RaspberrySlushy]

My boss does a ton of research on learning and she always tells us that an hour is the time frame but I'm sure it varies by person. And I dont take what she says as take a long break every hour, that would be so counterproductive, more like stretch, walk around for a min, get a little movement then settle back in to study. So maybe just for 5 min or so.

 

[StudyLater]

Well it obviously depends. Taking a 5 min breather for every 30min of studying, you could theoretically do 12hrs of studying with only an hour of breaks total. That's a whole hour less than the strategy of taking a 30min break every 3hrs. However, let's say during your breaks you wanna do something that might take a little while like brief exercise, taking a walk, watching an episode of a favorite show, whatever - then you'd extend that break time and decrease the frequency of those breaks according to how much break time you're allowing yourself per day. It's helpful to write out a schedule and try to adhere to that schedule as strictly as possible, especially if you're in a situation where you have significant EC obligations breathing down your neck.

Just do what works for you. We don't know how you like things to be. It's most important that you're comfortable and able to focus/keep your motivation up. Do what you have to do to get there, as long as it doesn't involve losing a bunch of time out of the day (>3-4hrs or so).

By the way, studying 12hrs a day is probably unnecessary and not even particularly recommended. 5-8hrs on average is the norm. I hope you're aware of that. Taking time to decompress is not a bad thing - just don't let distractions overtake you (not my strong suit, personally).

 

[nomdeplume1234]

I think the key is keeping breaks under control. If you have discipline to keep a 5 minute break to 5 minutes great. But if 5 minutes turns into 3 hours of web surfing then that is a problem.