As much as I love Christmas, it’s easy to become lazy over the Christmas holidays. While I’m sure we would all rather sit by the Christmas tree and watch endless Christmas films, a lot of us have assignments due. So I thought that I would try the tip to take regular breaks while completing assignments.

Task: Assignments to do over Christmas; Move More Tip: Take regular breaks. Set a reminder to move every hour.

The NHS says  “Exercise will help keep you calm during exams. You’ll feel more energised and refreshed, and that will help you perform better in your studies.”

I set a reminder on my phone every hour to remind me to get up and move for at least 5 minutes.  Every time the alarm sounded I would get up and do something that got me moving. Sometimes it was to just walk downstairs to get water or I used the five minutes to do a short burst of exercise.

Here are some of the things that you can do in five minutes to move more during study breaks:

• Go downstairs to refill your water bottle
• 30 sit ups x 3
• Put on your favourite song and dance
• 30 lunges x 3
• Desk exercises
• 50 star jumps

I also found that study blogs on Tumblr are extremely motivational and a lot of them recommend exercise as part of your daily study plan.

Overall

The short bursts of movement helped me get a lot more work done, as I had a designated time to take a break instead of working non stop and losing concentration half way through.

Lauren Miranda
Journalism student
Canterbury Christ Church Uniersity