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The tiny breaks that ease your body and reboot your brain
Why stretching matters
Tiny breaks are thought to help us to cope with long periods at our desks by taking the strain off certain body structures – such as the neck – that we’re using all day.
If you’re getting into microbreaks to give your body – rather than your brain – a rest, it’s best to do something physical like standing up or changing position.
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Microbreaks
They refer to any brief activity that helps to break up the monotony of physically or mentally draining tasks.
They can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes and involve anything from making a cup of tea to stretching or watching a music video.
The power of microbreaks
They can improve workers’ ability to concentrate, change the way they see their jobs, and even help them avoid the typical injuries that people get when they’re tied to their desks all day.
There’s no consensus on how long the ideal microbreak should last or how often you should have them; it’s up to you to experiment with what works best.
Disengaging from work
Microbreaks give workers the license to indulge in what can look suspiciously like time-wasting.
They enable “psychological detachment”, which occurs when you mentally disengage from work-based tasks and allow your brain to recover: actively shifting the focus of your thoughts, so that you’re not mulling over work while you’re trying to chill out.
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Your workspace matters
Lighting
- The best kind of light you can have in your office is natural light. It helps our bodies maintain our internal "clocks" or circadian rhythms which affects our sleep and energy.
- Poor lighting, whether it's dim lighting or harsh lighting from overhead fluorescent lights, can cause eye strain, stress, and fatigue.
- Don't sit with your back to a window unless you can shade it.
- Don't sit facing a window because that will make reading a monitor difficult.
- If you use a task lamp at your desk, position it so the bottom of the lampshade is at about the height of your chin when it's on.
Plants
- Indoor plants prevent fatigue during attention-demanding work.
- Even just having a window view of live greenery can be restorative and keep us focused.
- A peace lily plant requires little sunlight to survive and you only have to water it when the soil is dried out and is also great for cleaning the air.
- Cacti and aloe plants are other low-maintenance plants to consider.
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We Need Breaks
Take A Break Every 52 Minutes
After analyzing 5.5 million daily records of how office workers are using their computer (based on what the user self-identified as “productive” work), they found that the top 10% of productive workers all worked an average of 52 minutes before taking a 17 minute break.
Distract Yourself To Recharge Your Focus
Intense focus actually makes us less focused in the long run. Instead of thinking about the problem without stop, we need to create distractions that take our attention away from the task at hand so we can come back at it with a fresh mind.
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The Action Hero
Give them a seemingly impossible list of tasks and they will have them done and dusted faster than a speeding bullet. But in their haste, they can miss things and prioritize...
The Diva
Very sociable and upbeat but with a tendency to procrastinate, they often boast about their nonexistent achievements giving the impression they are more productive than they really are.
Strategy: breaking tasks into tiny steps, scheduling their resolution and setting reminders works well. Email management according to urgency is also crucial considering how much time it usually consumes.
The Workhorse
Thoughtful, cautious, methodical and quite independent in terms in carrying out tasks. They plan and prioritize well, but may be seen as overcautious, while others can be frustrated by their inertia. Their dedication to the job can also lead to an unwillingness to share the burden of work.
Strategy: Choose the most important things you need to focus on and those that only you can do, while delegating the rest according to staff skills.
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