Study, work and rest

By Joshua Corcuera

As students and workers return to normal more than two years after the pandemic, long hours of constant study and work would likely be the norm. While this may be better compared to working or studying online which, arguably, is exhausting as well, it cannot be denied that there is a need to emphasize the importance of taking a rest every now and then.

In my internship for an audit firm, most interns have to complete 400 hours by November or, if necessary, December. Hence, it did not come as a surprise that we would have to report from 8 AM to 5 PM or 9 AM to 6 PM from Monday to Friday. I was exhausted on my first week in the internship for obvious and self-explanatory reasons. However, I manage to perform well so far because of short break times in between working hours. As an example, we have the privilege to take a rest for 15 minutes at least twice a day, one break time during the morning and another during the afternoon. Aside from these, we have an hour-long lunch break from 12 to 1 PM of course. From this recent experience, I realized that one should not overwork oneself because someone who is extremely exhausted would be unable to work effectively. More importantly, we are humans, not robots or machines that run on batteries.

In my studies, I can share a similar experience and reflection. For the past two years, I have had to study lessons online as a safety precaution during the height of the pandemic. Aside from my classes at university held online, I enrolled with a review center to study backlogs or those lessons which were not taught because of the sudden stop of face-to-face classes in March 2020. At first, I usually devote about two to three hours continuously watching lectures from both the university and the review center. From this approach, I find myself exhausted by the last 30 minutes or so.

However, I later changed my approach on studying video lectures by dividing them into smaller sections. For instance, I would watch the first 45 minutes of the lesson, then I’d take a 10-minute break before continuing with the next 45 minutes of the lecture, then I’d have another short break and go back to finish the lesson. Because of these short breaks, I was able to summarize and absorb much better the concepts and theories mentioned before proceeding further. As a consequence, I learned more and I only felt slight, instead of too much, exhaustion.

From my encounters in my virtual studies and my internship, I had a strikingly similar learning: it is important to take a rest every now and then. But, I also make sure that I do not rest for so long because it may compromise my goals as far as my academics and internship are concerned. Altogether, taking a rest, not too little and not too much, is important to function properly in work and in study.