Respected Scientists please is there a link between a good rest (ie. Sleeping) and how effective one can study.
I think the answer should be yes because rest represent a good chance for any researcher for planning carefully about what he should do after this rest and to gather any additional information related with what he plan to do.
It depends on personality and circumstances.
The so-called attention span of all human beings is rather short, ca. 20 minutes on average in normal situations. After that, attention fades away, you may divert attention to other stimuli in your environment, and you may start making mistakes or committing errors in your original activity, which may be bad for you. This is all biologically programmed, you can scarcely escape it, unless you build up an extreme motivation for what you are doing, like when you are playing music or solving a difficult mathematical problem.
On the other hand, circumstances may be such that you cannot afford to interrupt your activity by some rest, even if it would not be bad to do so. Just one (extreme) example: if you are a surgeon, very much specialized, you may have to prepare for a medical surgery which takes several hours. It will be almost impossible to interrupt it, if you are fully responsible for the life of your patient. So you have to take enough rest BEFORE engaging in this activity.
How does that transfer to studying?
I insist that it also depends on personality and circumstances! Few students will take a rest a few hours before an important test or examination will take place. But it would make a difference, sometimes. A strong and well-balanced personality however doesn't need a break or rest, because it will be integrated in the activity itself, e.g. combining mental and physical activity all the way down the goal.
There's also a mental cost associated with rest: it will take some time and effort to catch up the interrupted activity and proceed from where you interrupted it. So be careful how you interrupt it, leaving enough powerful "reminders" on your desktop which help you to quickly take up from where you left down.
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Footnote [2014-02-24]
- I just noted, this has been my 1000th answer. "Could be worse", as my colleagues used to say. No reason to congratulate me, it's just a fact of life ;-)
The answer is definitely yes. For effective work, you have to concentrate and active enough. For for doing this, you have to refresh your body and brain. One of the ways for refreshing your body and brain is taking sufficient rest.
Please listen two lines of my favourite poet Rabindranath Tagore:
"Rest is an integral part of work; like the eye lid on eye".
(Translation by me from Bengali).
Nerves will work better if they get proper rest.
This is true for the sustainability, however there are circumstances where work under pressure for a limited reasonable period of time may also be surprisingly very effective. Let us say that the relation is true provided it is considered as an empirical relationship naturally admitting some failures as well.
One study found that, at least in mice, chronic stress impaired the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved in abstract thought, cognitive analysis and detecting the appropriate behavior for a given situation. Previous research in mice also showed that shorter bursts of stress impaired the centers of the brain involved in memory and learning, and left the mice struggling to remember how to find their way through a maze.
A number of studies have also found that stress increases the amount of certain proteins in the brain that have been linked to Alzheimer’s, possibly accelerating the development of the disease.
Yes. Rest has a way of resetting the whole body including the brain and as such a relaxed brain will function better than a stressed one.
Everyone forgets the importance of rest and sleep and its role in the consolidation of information gained and the speed of retrieval when needed. The body needs to rest and sleep in order to the nerve cells restore balance and stabilize brain functions and the return of neurotransmitters to the normal level.
Yes after taking rest one can work very efficiently however some people work under stress also
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