13th Quick Step: The benefit of a math break!

And your next step will be ... take a break.

G’day Math Students!

Today’s quick step is on … why you must have breaks!

And your next step will be … break-time! You take a break when you’re tired, you’re going around in circles, getting flustered!

What’s the purpose of a break?

To rest, to recover, to reenergize yourself, for the next step in your journey. Rest. Recover. Reenergize. The Three ‘Re’s! It’s always the same three steps no matter what journey you’re on:

Summer break, Christmas break, Study break, March break, School break, Winter break, Autumn break/Fall break, Weekend break, Sleep break, Rain break, Lunch break, Nap break, Coffee break, Tea break, Paid break, Work break, Mental break, Mini break, Math break.

Rest. Recover. Reenergize.

Rest means to stop doing that activity. 
Recover means to ‘feed yourself’* whatever part of you is tired! 
Reenergize means you restart the action at the same energy level it was before the break or as close to it as possible.

The result is that you are just as effective as when you first started the activity. Yay.

*What is ‘feed yourself’?

During a sports activity break (half-time, end of the quarter, end of the period), ’feed yourself’ would mean getting your heart rate down, drinking water, and eating healthy food – a break from physical activity.

Your lunch break ’feed yourself’ is eating food, drinking liquids, chatting with friends – it’s a break from the thinking of doing academics.

Your math break' feed yourself' is:

A brain break - little thinking and no problem-solving
Eat brain food.
No stressing.
Chillax.

You've been using your math brain to upload a lot of new information – now you want to pause the upload so you can download some rest and recover time.

Rest, recover, re-energize, is a part of any journey.

Going on a long car trip "bathroom break' 😊.
Restarting to eat after you wake up, is called break-fast' - as in you're ‘breaking’ your fast. And 'fast' not as in quickly, but 'fast' meaning you're ending the period of not eating - e.g. I did a 33-hour fast.
Coffee break is what your parents do to get a break from work.

Here’s what some of my students do on their math break:

Group I: nap, listen to music, look at the ceiling, read a book, light exercise, meditate, dance, sing, chill, chat with their dog, hang out with their pet rat.

Group II: Played video games, went on their mobile, social media, ate junk food.

Group II’s break is not a brain break – there was no rest (too much stimulation), no recovery and restarted their math, less energized, more tired, and in some cases lethargic and irritable ☹.

Here’s a ‘funny’ question a student asked me after our conversation on the benefit of breaks

“If I’m tired during class, can I take a break?” Wow, what a brilliant question! My quick answer is absolutely YES; take a mini break! If you’re not taking in the math in class, it’s time to reset (rest, recover, reenergize). However, I then said: 1) Ask your teacher about taking a break and 2) Why were you tired?
FYI: I, EH and Edison, am a fan of mini-breaks!

In Bet on yourself I wrote about one of my maxi-breaks in high school. Now, when I need a mini break from writing Math by Edison (going around in circles on a point, getting bogged down on a sentence to write), my brain break is a power food or closing my eyes for a few minutes. It’s like I’m powering down my brain to put it in ‘sleep mode’ to give it time to reload and replenish. My advice to you? Create a ‘mini break’ plan that works for you and energizes you!!

Summary

The best way to think of a break is having a time-out! Whether those words triggered a ‘time-out’ when you were a kid (so no more of that activity you were doing), a time-out a sports coach asks for, or a gym teacher showing the T-symbol with their hands to indicate STOP what you’re doing. A break in math has the same purpose as any break in life; it’s a step in the journey to rest and recover so you can restart the journey reenergized.

The benefit of a mini-brain-break is that you get to restart your work refreshed, replenished and reinvigorated!

The next step is a quick break:

In the comments let me know what you do on your math break rest, recover and reenergize. And if you’re a non-student (e.g. a parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt, friend, teacher ...) share what you did back in the day to rest, recover, reenergize!

Rest and Recover = Reenergized!

The benefit of a math break is another quick step eh!

EH

P.S. You’re doing math and your self-talk starts a monologue with you …

yo, yo … yeah you … yeah im talking to you self. what are you doing? im at max cap now – maxed out, have no space, no room, nada, no fuel in the tank. Uploading needs to stop.  ya know what im saying??? okay you needa translation??? we’re losing focus, we’re having to reread, we’re getting drained, we’re tired, we’re fatigued, im bothered, youre bothered, youre spinning your wheels, we’re stuck, you’re stuck in an endless loop on that three plus four! im yelling … is anybody listening? hello anybody home. ya know what im saying now! we’re goin around in circles partner. STOP! im begging you.

i needa break.

P.P.S.
Who’s EH? The guy that wrote this article. EH is for my name, Edison Hopkinson.
What’s ‘eh’? ‘eh’ is a part of Canadian ‘language’ - it’s how many of us people in the land on top, finish our sentences.
Use a math break to rest, recover and reenergize, eh? Okay, that’s a splendid next step, eh!

P.P.S. If when you started reading this Quick Step article, your brain sent you a message, “hey wait a sec, wasn’t this section called ‘Quick Tip’ last week?” Yup, you would be correct! Name changed to Quick Step as of today!