For students complaining of writer’s block for an assignment, something as simple as taking a walk outside can bring around a whole new perspective on what you’ve been working on.
We recently came across an interesting case study, conducted by psychology students at the University of Chicago, to determine the most effective study break. Student volunteers were given sequences of 3 to 9 numeric digits and asked to repeat them in reverse. If the experimenter said “6-1-9” then the student would respond “9-1-6”. After 14 tests like this, the students were told to take an hour-long walk through an arboretum, or the downtown area.
When the students returned from the break, the test was repeated. It turned out that the walk through nature improved the subjects’ cognitive thinking skills and they performed much better on the digit-span and visual attention tasks.
This small study took an old and simple concept and gave it new life. Be it taking a walk through a nearby park, or sitting out by a tree in the yard, being closer to nature is a great way to unwind and re-energize your thoughts. If you’re not the woodsy type, even viewing an image of an outdoor landscape on your computer or on a wall in a coffee shop can help get your mind in the right place.
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