Breaks at work. Do they help?
One of my expectations with work is that I show up to work on time, leave on time, and do not do any work activities during lunch. Many times, that is when I am writing these blog posts, but some times I just take a break and watch one or two YouTube videos.
To support this decision and answer the question asked is the infographic below.
These are my favorite three break room hacks from the infographic:
- 59% say breaks improve workplace happiness and 37% say it improves health (agreed!)
- Breaks increase concentration, alertness, and work speed and decrease stress, soreness, and eye strain.
- To increase your break impact, buy healthy foods, stretch, and get water. I compensate this with push-ups and a home standing desk.
How do you make sure you are being effective at work?
[Image via Quill.com]
Andrew Fallows says
Taking breaks is essential for me.
I use a practice called The Pomodoro Technique pretty regularly at work. The basic principle is: cycles of focused, uninterrupted work for 25 minutes, followed by a 5 minute break. Every 4th break is 15 minutes instead of 5. During the work cycles, don’t allow any distractions, and only work on the thing you said you would. During the breaks, do not do work.
When I work from home, I will go as far as to read books and play video games (games which have very short rounds) during the break times. I’m really not working!
The thing that happens pretty quickly after getting into a pattern like that is that starting the 25 minute timer (especially if you use a ticking timer, which I recommend) is a strong cue/trigger for the productivity, and it makes it much easier to drop into a productive mode. You may be planning a lot of break time into your day, but you’ll be able to keep up a streak of productivity that makes you more effective overall.
I have a harder time with the breaks when I’m in the office because in a cubicle setting, it’s socially weird to be sitting at your desk obviously not working when others are. But I tend to get up, walk around, make tea, etc. during those times.
No one actually does work for a full 8 hours in an 8 hour work day. Studies suggest the average productive time per day is actually closer to 4 hours! Taking breaks helps you make the focused time more efficient and rewarding. Do it!
Jeremy Smith says
Thanks for that comment. Great stuff here for people to read.
Eric Dye says
After hearing this kind of stuff for years and years, I’ve finally started doing this more and have really enjoyed the effects. A great infogrpahic! 😀
Jeremy Smith says
Boom!