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Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

ninds.nih.gov

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Re: Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

#31

Post by hanniabu »

trillic wrote: post #13

I drink tons of water, I try and drink my 32 oz bottle once an hour when I'm working. I feel more productive for two reasons because I do this: 1. I'm not dehydrated, 2. it forces me to get up to use the restroom a lot more than usual. This forces me to have lots of mini breaks almost every hour or so to walk and fill up my bottle and use the restroom.

I have never gone to the doctor for this, but I'm pretty sure I have ADD and funnily enough I think I am able to concentrate way better when I'm dehydrated. Being on an empty stomach also seems to help. Anybody know if there's an scientific reason for this?

Re: Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

#32

Post by hanniabu »

zitterbewegung wrote: post #6
JesseAldridge wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but the work periods were also ten seconds. So the suggestion seems to be that we should spend 50% of our time resting, with many very small rest periods interspersed between many very small work periods.

So, if i'm teaching myself to do unit testing I should take a 10 second break by checking HN and then go back to the task?

Probably better to do a walk around the room and reflect.

Re: Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

#33

Post by treme »

hanniabu wrote: post #29
tjbiddle wrote: post #24

This is something I've found true in my own personal experimentation over the past few years. Any time I've been training something, if I take a break from it, I come back and I have more skill than I had previously. Recently this occurred with my handstand practice. It's something that I've been working on the past year or two on and off, but more heavily recently. I've made some great strides, but the past week or…

Speaking of handstands, I've been wanting to get started with that too as an item on my skills-to-acquire list. Any tips for a fellow beginner? I could never seem to get past the point needed to balance. I kick my body back and it stop right before the balance point and my body slowly goes off center and comes crashing down. Have you found it easier to do with trying to keep your body straight and stiff or feet tucke…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTpG6CwR5XI&

Re: Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

#34

Post by 8456523 »

hanniabu wrote: post #31
trillic wrote: post #13

I drink tons of water, I try and drink my 32 oz bottle once an hour when I'm working. I feel more productive for two reasons because I do this: 1. I'm not dehydrated, 2. it forces me to get up to use the restroom a lot more than usual. This forces me to have lots of mini breaks almost every hour or so to walk and fill up my bottle and use the restroom.

I have never gone to the doctor for this, but I'm pretty sure I have ADD and funnily enough I think I am able to concentrate way better when I'm dehydrated. Being on an empty stomach also seems to help. Anybody know if there's an scientific reason for this?

>Being on an empty stomach also seems to help

There might be microbes (bacteria) in your gut (intestines, etc) that produce toxins that dull your thinking when they have food.

Re: Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

#35

Post by RickJWagner »

hanniabu wrote: post #31
trillic wrote: post #13

I drink tons of water, I try and drink my 32 oz bottle once an hour when I'm working. I feel more productive for two reasons because I do this: 1. I'm not dehydrated, 2. it forces me to get up to use the restroom a lot more than usual. This forces me to have lots of mini breaks almost every hour or so to walk and fill up my bottle and use the restroom.

I have never gone to the doctor for this, but I'm pretty sure I have ADD and funnily enough I think I am able to concentrate way better when I'm dehydrated. Being on an empty stomach also seems to help. Anybody know if there's an scientific reason for this?

I'm the other way. If I'm hungry, I'm thinking about food all the time.

A key for me is to keep snacks on hand that aren't too bad for my health.

Re: Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

#36

Post by narag »

mrob wrote: post #22
Someone1234 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may wish to go see your doctor, that doesn't seem normal (excess fluid consumption can be a sign of diseases like diabetes). And more worrying you're bordering on water intoxication at 32 oz/hour: > Your kidneys can eliminate about 5.3-7.4 gallons (20-28 liters) of water a day, but they can't get rid of more than 27-33 ounces (0.8-1.0 liters) per hour. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318619.php Also, yo…

There are only 24 hours in a day, so how it is possible to eliminate 28 liters in 24 hours without exceeding 1 liter per hour?

Sweat. The comment above was about kidneys only.

Try this: weight yourself before and after sleep.

Re: Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

#37

Post by screye »

hanniabu wrote: post #29
tjbiddle wrote: post #24

This is something I've found true in my own personal experimentation over the past few years. Any time I've been training something, if I take a break from it, I come back and I have more skill than I had previously. Recently this occurred with my handstand practice. It's something that I've been working on the past year or two on and off, but more heavily recently. I've made some great strides, but the past week or…

Speaking of handstands, I've been wanting to get started with that too as an item on my skills-to-acquire list. Any tips for a fellow beginner? I could never seem to get past the point needed to balance. I kick my body back and it stop right before the balance point and my body slowly goes off center and comes crashing down. Have you found it easier to do with trying to keep your body straight and stiff or feet tucke…

Reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness

They have a whole wiki section for handstands

Re: Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

#38

Post by JesseAldridge »

zitterbewegung wrote: post #6
JesseAldridge wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but the work periods were also ten seconds. So the suggestion seems to be that we should spend 50% of our time resting, with many very small rest periods interspersed between many very small work periods.

So, if i'm teaching myself to do unit testing I should take a 10 second break by checking HN and then go back to the task?

I imagine 10 seconds of quiet reflection would work better.

Re: Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

#39

Post by Razengan »

tjbiddle wrote: post #24

This is something I've found true in my own personal experimentation over the past few years. Any time I've been training something, if I take a break from it, I come back and I have more skill than I had previously. Recently this occurred with my handstand practice. It's something that I've been working on the past year or two on and off, but more heavily recently. I've made some great strides, but the past week or…

> Any time I've been training something, if I take a break from it, I come back and I have more skill than I had previously.

I’ve experienced this first hand, almost like a tangible thing, while learning a language.

Whenever I came back to it after a break, sometimes after months of no exposure to the language, I was sometimes surprised to find myself being able to understand some new dialogue without looking at subtitles etc.

Re: Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks

#40

Post by mkl »

debt wrote: post #28
tjbiddle wrote: post #24

This is something I've found true in my own personal experimentation over the past few years. Any time I've been training something, if I take a break from it, I come back and I have more skill than I had previously. Recently this occurred with my handstand practice. It's something that I've been working on the past year or two on and off, but more heavily recently. I've made some great strides, but the past week or…

There’s a phrase “sleep on it”

The article is all about how that saying is not even close to the whole story.
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