I am a graduate student in CS, and naturally, I take several breaks a day from studying, but I feel that most of those breaks are habit-influenced and that I do not absolutely need to get off my seat and meditate, exercise, etc. For instance, I love reading/learning philosophy, but because I am aware that such a practice requires non-trivial brain effort, I only do that on vacations and I find myself disinclined to attempt such a thing on those breaks. However, I think that this disinclination stems from my awareness of the non-triviality of the undertaking and essentially my laziness or mental fatigue, not from natural brain-related issues.Is there documented evidence that the brain needs regular periods of rest in certain individual-dependent amounts, apart and in addition to the normal ~8 hours of sleep?
Apart from sleep, does the brain needs rest?
cognitive neuroscience;training;mental exhaustion