BlogStudyWhy Study Breaks are Critical to Helping Your Child Maintain Their Wellbeing During the HSC

Why Study Breaks are Critical to Helping Your Child Maintain Their Wellbeing During the HSC

Does it seem like your child is just always studying and they never take a study break? Perhaps they are particularly studious and want to do well. Maybe they’re a hardcore procrastinator, so it takes a long time to get anything done. 

Regardless of the reasons, Year 12 can be a long slog with limited breaks. You might be wondering if there are any solutions to this. 

Good news! Today, we are going to break down two types of study breaks that your child needs, why they are essential for wellbeing, and how you can help your child achieve them. 

If this sounds like what you need, keep reading! 

How do you know if your child needs a study break?
Short-Term Breaks
Longer Breaks
How can you help your child to take breaks?

How do you know if your child needs a study break? 

Before we jump into the research, you may be wondering how to know if your child needs to stop studying for a little while. As a general rule, if your child hasn’t had a break for 2-3 hours, you should encourage them to get up.

Study Break - Advice

They should go outside, do some light exercise, and eat something. On a normal study day, this break should last about 15 minutes! In this article, we will consider this type of breather a ‘short term’ study break. 

Why the 2-3 hour mark, you may be wondering? This is an ideal period of time as it doesn’t disrupt study flow or seem overbearing, but it reduces the risk of burnout. It’s all about reaching a happy medium!

Learn more about creating a distraction-free study environment and study flow here!

Okay, now that you know when to call for study breaks, let’s jump into why they are important.

Short-Term Breaks 

As mentioned, we are going to talk about two types of breaks in this article. The first one is what we outlined in the guideline above.

Short-term breaks happen throughout a regular study day and provide a time to unwind so that your child can continue achieving to their fullest extent. 

So, what are the benefits of these breaks? 

Study Break - Benefits

#1: Provides a focus boost 

By taking a break every two hours or so, you provide your brain with an opportunity to rest. This is particularly needed for teens who are studying hard!

By stopping for even a short period of time, we allow our brains to calm down, which can lower stress hormones such as cortisol in our body. When we do this, we come back to study with a clearer mind, ready to work. 

However, there are some better ways than others for these breaks to be used if you want your child to remain focussed. This study highlights some interesting things about the power of breaks in boosting focus and efficiency.

First, it suggests that disengaging from social media during breaks is useful for the brain. Exercising in that 10-15 minutes may be a great alternative to lower anxiety and boost post-break productivity. 

If your child is unsure how to use their break, this quiz can suggest ways to increase productivity and motivation, especially in the peak of exam time!

#2: Strengthens memory 

This is also an important point! Less study may actually help students achieve more, research has found. When we have many short-term breaks, our brains have increased communication between the hippocampus (which is responsible for a lot of learning and memory) and the lateral occipital complex (which plays a role in recognising objects and their changing capacities). 

In short, this complex idea means that we have better memory consolidation when we rest. By having study breaks, particularly if they involve napping, your child is more likely to remember complicated pieces of information in a very concrete way.

Ultimately, the vast majority of memory consolidation happens during long periods of sleep, so it’s really important your child is getting this, too. You can read more here!

#3: Reduces stress

This point is more simple, but equally as important! Having regular study breaks helps to reduce stress. Why? 

Let’s talk about cortisol again. This is a hormone produced in the adrenal glands that is released into the blood. It’s responsible for regulating our metabolism, creating memories and controlling the balance of different things in our body. Plenty of good qualities! 

On top of this, however, cortisol can make your child super stressed. It is partly responsible for controlling our mood and behavioural responses to certain situations. 

Okay, science lesson finished. The good news is, having regular study breaks reduces the amount of cortisol in the bloodstream, bringing your child back down to a calm temperament, ready to work again. Here are some tips for reducing stress and lowering cortisol through regular breaks! 

“[My parents] got me out of the house and doing other activities, when I was always inside studying, to relax my mind…” — Vi (95.1 ATAR)

#4: Provides opportunity to exercise 

When your child is studying all day, it can be hard to get out and get the movement they need. The Department of Health recommends that adults and older teens get 2.5-5 hours of moderate exercise a week. There’s a good chance that your child isn’t getting this! 

Study breaks provide a great time to go for a quick jog around the block, walk with the dog, dance… even jump on the trampoline if they really want to! 

This exercise has more than just physical health benefits, too. It can help decrease stress by releasing serotonin (in fact, some studies suggest exercise can be as effective as antidepressants!).

It also aids in getting a good night’s sleep and having continued focus throughout the day. Overall- exercise is really important! 

Learn about maintaining physical wellbeing in this article here!

Longer Breaks 

In addition to these longer study breaks, it’s also really important that your child gets decent chunks of time (a whole weekend, for example) off study. 

Taking small holidays, whether it be at home or going away, is essential for stress-busting. It helps your child to feel more in control of their study, as they recognise that their life will not suddenly fall apart if they stop studying.

More importantly, long breaks are perspective shifters. By doing something away from schoolwork, your child will likely notice that there is life outside of the HSC, and they will get through this small period of their lives. 

Check out how you can help your child find perspective in our article here!

How can you help your child take breaks? 

Now that you know the importance of study breaks to enhance wellbeing, you might be wondering what you can do to help!

Here are some practical tips to make sure your child get the breaks they need: 

    • Chat to them about why breaks are important 
    • Create a weekly study schedule, with built-in breaks 
    • Suggest the Pomodoro method 
    • Book a quick getaway
    • Encourage them to take up a hobby they love 
    • Offer to pay for a local sport or gym membership 
    • Encourage sleep

Hopefully, this simple breakdown has really helped you to understand the need for study breaks! You will now be much closer to helping your child have a great study routine and excel during the HSC. 

Are you looking for some extra help for your child during the HSC?

We have an incredible team of HSC tutors and mentors!

We can help your child master their HSC subjects and ace their upcoming HSC assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at our state of the art campus in Hornsby or the Hills!

We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!

To find out more and get started with an inspirational HSC tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!


Lucinda Garbutt-Young hopes to one day be writing for a big-shot newspaper… or maybe just for a friendly magazine in the arts sector. Right now, she is enjoying studying a Bachelor of Public Communication (Public Relations and Journalism) at UTS while she writes on the side. She also loves making coffees for people in her job as a barista, and loves nothing more than a sun shower.

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