What does Cognitive Load mean?

Cognitive Load estimates how demanding your current activity appears to be for your attention and cognitive resources.

It is displayed using three levels:

Light – your current activity appears to require relatively little mental effort.

Engaged – your activity appears to require sustained attention and focused thinking.

Intense – your activity appears to involve prolonged or demanding cognitive effort.

Higher Cognitive Load does not necessarily mean something is wrong. Many productive tasks naturally involve periods of high mental effort. However, remaining in the Intense state for an extended period may increase the likelihood that a restorative break would be beneficial.