Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing - How Napping Makes You Smarter

Episode Date: March 24, 2020

Working hard? That’s great. But if you want to avoid burnout then Daniel Levitin, professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience at McGill University and best-selling author, has a tip to help everyone from students to CEOs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With The Motley Fool Money Extra, I'm Chris Hill. Whether you're in school or at a job, it's important to have a good work ethic. Even in these uncertain times, maybe especially in these uncertain times, when so many of us are required to finish our classes or work from home, there's an understandable desire to want to work hard. Just make sure you don't burn yourself out. Daniel Levitin is a professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience at McGill University. He's also written several New York Times bestsellers, including The Organized Mind, Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload.

We're definitely living in the information age, and Levitin has a tip for anyone who's out there working hard. I think all of us feel like if we stop work for even just five minutes, we're going to fall irretrievably behind. And the fact is, if you stop and take a break of about 15 minutes every two hours, it allows you to hit a kind of neural reset button in your brain so that when you come back to your work, you'll find that you're more creative, you're refreshed, you've replenished some of the depleted neurochemicals. And a number of studies show that at the end of the day,

people who took these 15-minute breaks every couple of hours not only got more done than people who plowed through, but their work was of a higher quality and more creative. This is even more so true with naps. A single 15-minute nap in the afternoon gives you an effective IQ increase of 10 points. Again, Daniel Levitin's book is The Organized Mind, Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go increase my IQ by 10 points. I'm Chris Hill. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.