I wanted to figure out the best activities/entertainment one can take up during study/work breaks. I posted the same on Facebook and got some interesting answers.

Here’s a list of all things (mine + suggestions from others) which might help you. See what makes the most sense to you and try it out. :)

• A quick run outside (or other kind of cardio/strength activity)
• Reading books
• Listening to podcasts
• Binge watching course trailers on edX/Coursera
• Taking a nap
• Cooking
• Talking to friends/family
• Meditation
• Listening to music
• Drawing/Painting
• Sitting in nature and doing nothing
• Making coffee or cooking something
• Origami
• Juggling balls
• Rubik’s cube
• Chess tactics (this something gets counter productive, I get attached to it and want to continously keep doing them)
• Solving puzzle questions
• Solving programming questions
• Introspection

Things that are counter productive:

• Watching a series on Netflix
• Watching your favourite sports game
• Browsing social media
• Watching random videos on YouTube
• Playing video games
• Reading Quora (gives you an illusion of learning new things, an illusion of productivity and you won’t often remember any of these for long; it could be addicting to read answers continously. I realize this could be very helpful for others, it’s just not my thing.)

Here’s my Facebook post on the topic. All of the examples are broad generalizations. I’m not saying the examples above must apply for everyone (or even most people). They’re activities that I personally find helpful.