These activities are scientifically proven to be better for your brain and overall well-being than stressful homework assignments.*

Let’s be honest, if you’re reading this than whatever homework you should be doing right now isn’t going to get done in the next hour or so anyways, so you can afford to take the time to do at least one of these five fantastic activities instead. Your brain could use some time off, and life has a funny way of flying by if you’re too busy memorizing vocabulary. And if none of that is enough to convince you, take comfort in knowing that it’ll be more fun than scrolling through a newsfeed or vegging away on Netflix as you “brainstorm ideas for your essay”.

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Below are five hour-long breathers that you don’t have to feel bad about taking.

1. Tune Up Your Life

Step one: go outside (even if it’s raining; that’s what umbrellas are for). Step two: find a comfy spot to sit. Step three: listen to an entire album start to finish by your favorite band. Artists choose the order of their songs for a reason, and often their music has a lot more meaning than that of their radio single.

2. Coffee & Cards

Head on down to your favorite cafe, bakery, or hipster-filled organic coffee shop with a couple of friends and a deck of cards to play one of these fantastic games and just let your mind unwind for a while. Sip on a soothing coffee (or better yet, some rich hot chocolate), munch on a sugar-crumble muffin, and let finding a matching pair of cards be your biggest worry for an hour.

(http://www.bicyclecards.com/article/top-three-clas...)

3. SPORTS.

You may not be able to officially register for gym class while in college, but you still need those 60 minutes of daily cardio. So why not frisbee, jump rope, rollerblade, Spikeball, dodgeball or soccer your way through them? Intramurals have always got you covered, but a not-too-shabby substitution for those are just grabbing a few friends, a wireless audio speaker, and a yard game of choice to get those endorphins rushing.

4. Walk your friend.

No dogs allowed? No problem. Friends are just as good as walking buddies to catch some fresh air with…though you may want to leave the leash behind.

5. Sleep

Napping is a privilege that should be treated as such, despite what our first-grade selves may have tried to argue. If you have the time to crash for twenty minutes or so, by all means take it. This break does need to be under an hour, for much longer than that will leave you a confused and groggy mess. However, in these days of painfully late nights, naps are what what can make or break your ability to get all your work done.

*Just kidding, there is absolutely no research to back this statement up. But there could be.