Why Work In how long is 90 minutes Segments

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Humans aren’t designed to concentrate for long periods of time. It is no surprise that we are unable to focus for long periods of time on one specific task since our brains are constantly absorbing stimuli – it has been estimated that we take in 11 million bits of information per second from our environment – so it doesn’t make sense that our attention spans are limited.

There’s been a lot of research on the ‘attention span,’ and some of it suggests that our attention span is actually shorter than a goldfish’s, at about 8.25 seconds. Attention span is defined as “the amount of time a person can devote to a task without becoming distracted.” Of course, we can maintain our focus on a task for much longer than 8.25 seconds, but that is the estimation for how long our brain will focus on the task alone, without distractions.

Our attention span has been slowly decreasing over time, which is the most bizarre part of it all. It is estimated that the rise of smartphones, which brought constant stimulation and frequent notifications, led to our decreasing attention span, which altered from 12 seconds to 8.25 seconds over a 15-year period. Our brains become addicted to all those stimuli when we are constantly bombarded with texts, tweets, push notifications, ads, Facebook posts, emails, and more. It’s hard to concentrate on one thing for very long when we crave more and more information.” Basically, our brain sees a shiny new thing to focus on, and hops from notification to notification to find the next best thing.

How long is 90 minutes in education

We all have short attention spans when we are relaxing after work or school. Netflix, Instagram, and Snapchat can be accessed without having any real consequences. However, at work or school, things are completely different. We are not programmed to focus our minds for long periods of time, so how are we supposed to do that?

There has been research published in recent years that supports working in 90-minute blocks. What is the reason for this time frame? The process of bumping information between nerve cells in the brain (obviously) consumes a lot of energy and depletes sodium and potassium levels. Scientists have proven that the human brain can work at optimal levels for 90 minutes before losing steam, after which it needs about 20 minutes of rest. 

The idea of sleeping for 90 minutes and then taking 20 minutes off is based on something called the “Basic Rest-Activity Cycle,” which occurs both while you sleep and when you’re awake. We can boost our brain’s performance by riding that cyclical wave, which our bodies naturally crave.

End Point

It’s difficult to block out 90-minute chunks of time consistently. Apps like Timely help us think of activities in those increments, which we usually don’t do. You can analyze your full productivity by automatically tracking your work activity (seeing how you divide your time, how long tasks take, where you get distracted, and which workflows slow you down). The program also serves as a time block scheduler, so you can plan your work into 90-minute blocks and see what you accomplish within those blocks.