Helping the brain function at full capacity may look different than you think, study finds

Recent studies show the importance of giving the brain healthy breaks — and it may look slightly different than you think.

To process information effectively, the brain should function in a specific “network,” and it can’t do that while scrolling on social media. There are specific activities that allow the brain to work through new information, making “breaks” the most effective.

“So many of us define ourselves by what we do. So we overdo, overwork and overproduce,” psychologist Scott Bea told Cleveland Clinic. “In our culture, ‘downtime’ can sound like a dirty word.”

However, giving your brain time to switch networks may be just what it needs to focus better.

Let your brain work in ‘Default Mode Network’

When resting, the brain relies on the Default Mode Network, or DMN, which is “a set of regions more active during passive tasks than tasks demanding focused external attention,” according to Harvard neuroscience professor Randy Buckner.

Balancing DMN activity with focused attention is crucial to achieving the highest brain function possible.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Cambridge explored various brain activities that happen in the DMN. Recalling memories about oneself, imagining future situations and routes, mind-wandering and self-reflective thoughts all are associated with DMN. Much of what the brain does under DMN is related to time, whether past or future.

Common activities an individual can do to induce the brain to DMN include daydreaming, meditation, reading fiction, unfocused walks, self-reflection, passive music listening, weeding a garden, vacuuming, sitting and staring into space and any other activity that allows the mind to wander.

“There’s some science to suggest that what our brains do when they’re not actively processing information is pretty important,” Bea explained. “When we let our minds wander, it can be replenishing.”

Author of “Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less,” Alex Soojung-Kim Pang told The Washington Post, “There is a kind of skill dimension to rest. It’s something that we can learn to do better.”

Resting your brain doesn’t include social media

Neurologist Majid Fotuhi explained how social media use worsens regular users’ “attention and ability to multitask.” While taking a 10-minute Instagram break while studying or at work might seem to rejuvenate the brain, it actually makes it harder to stay focused afterward.

Fotuhi added, “Heavy social media users become less able to ignore distraction in general.” Heavy usage leads to lower mental capacity for sustained attention.

Social media platforms track what users click on and how much time they spend on it. These companies are incentivized to keep users on for as long as possible, so they curate the perfect blend of content to keep you interested, per the Economic Times.

The Economic Times referenced a study from 2013 showing that middle school and high school aged students “averaged less than six minutes on task” before switching to use social media, send a text or do something else.

This study was completed three years before TikTok was released.

An article from November 2023 by Exploding Topics reported the average American teenager “spends 7 hours and 22 minutes looking at screens each day,” and the average has increased by two hours since 2015.

Social media and video game usage “requires continuous attention” and “deactivate(s) the DMN,” according to an editorial in MD Edge. The research included, “Addictive behavior decreases the connectivity of the DMN and suppresses its activity.”

Instead, try active rest

Exercise increases mental and physical health on many fronts, but a recent study by Chung-Ang University in South Korea correlated aerobic exercise with higher ability for the brain to function within DMN.

The study explained, exercise enhances brain function “including attention, executive function, memory and working memory.”

Letting the mind function in DMN “creates rejuvenation in the brain when you can chew on or consolidate information,” Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, an associate professor of psychology at USC, told Shape. She added that the DMN’s tendency toward self-reflection can help you “make meaning out of what’s going on in your life.”

Taking periodical active breaks gives the brain the opportunity to process information, while taking a 10-minute Instagram break won’t. Study Smarter suggested going for a walk, doing cardio, jump roping, stretching and going to the gym during breaks.

Professor of business at Oxford University Robert Poynton said, “It constantly surprises me how little it takes to make a big difference.” He added, “Taking 90 seconds to go outside and breathe the air and look at the mountains puts me in a very different frame of mind for the next Zoom call,” per the Edmonton Sun.