Taking Short Breaks During the Day

This post is about the importance of taking short breaks during the day. It’s written specifically with office workers in mind (regardless of whether you go into the office or work from home).

Disclosure – This post contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Any compensation I receive does not affect the price you pay.

It’s important to note that when taking short breaks during the workday, make sure you stay within any working guidelines your particular company may have. Another quick reminder – I realize that most of the information below is common sense, but often when we are busy and stressed about work, common sense goes out the window, so sometimes we need common sense reminders!

Let’s dive into why it’s important to take breaks during the day and some easy ways you can make that happen.

You need breaks for your physical health

For someone like myself, who suffers from neck and shoulder pain, taking short breaks from my desk during the day is essential.

If I don’t have regular breaks, I end up visiting my chiropractor more often than I would like. As much as he’s a great guy, I think catching up every 3 weeks is more than enough. If left unchecked, the neck pain results in a terrible headache, bordering on a migraine. The last one of these headaches had me off work for two and a half days.

Back when I originally wrote this post, my neck pain was a concern. Unfortunately, in the years since then, I have been diagnosed with a chronic illness. The main symptom of my illness is severe fatigue. Now, on certain days, I must take more breaks during the day so that my fatigue does not get worse. Taking breaks is no longer a nice thing to do; it’s essential to my overall health.

If I use up too much energy, it may mean I am unable to work for the next couple of days. If I have a flare-up due to not having enough rest, I could be derailed for weeks on end. I am a walking advertisement for the health advantages of taking short breaks during the day.

Whilst you may not be dealing with a chronic illness or illness of any type, it’s still important that you work with your body instead of against it.

You need breaks for your emotional health

It’s not just your physical health that you need to take care of; it’s also your emotional health. We need to check in with how we think and feel. Taking short breaks during the day can help with this, even more so if we are working on our mindset during those breaks.

It’s even more important to check in with ourselves if our work deals with emotional topics or if we are having issues with any of the people that we work with. Working with difficult people can be very draining and harmful for our health.

Related post – Don’t Underestimate the Power of Short Breaks During a Busy Workday – Harvard Business Review

You need breaks so that you can continue to be productive

Taking a short break can help our productivity. Short breaks can help us think more clearly, stay focused for longer, and help with our productivity overall.

Not to mention, sometimes stepping away from a particular problem and thinking about something completely different can help us come up with a solution to our initial problem. Sometimes we need to stop thinking about something to work out how to fix it.

Need help with your productivity? These books can help –

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport

You need breaks if you work long hours

If you are going to be working a long day, it helps to break it up with as many micro breaks as possible. While our busiest days don’t always feel like they will allow for any breaks whatsoever, do your best and try to fit in a few small microbreaks to help you make it through the day.

We have taken a look at the why; now let’s look at the how.

Go out for lunch

It’s amazing how many employees sit at their desk and eat their lunch. It means that they are hardly moving at all during the day.

Many people only move for toilet breaks, and even those they put off as long as they can!

I totally understand not being able to afford to eat lunch out every day. That’s not what I am talking about here. Even if you are taking your lunch into the office, you can still go out during your lunch break. You could eat your lunch in a park. Or simply go for a walk and then eat your lunch when you get back.

I realize you might not have much time for lunch. I remember temping for a particular company and only having 30 minutes for lunch. The building was also quite far away from the CBD, so it was hard to pop out at lunchtime. I still tried to make sure I had some time out of the office, even if it was just 15 minutes.

Related post – The Tiny Breaks That Ease Your Body and Reboot Your Brain – BBC

Make sure you have a break at lunchtime

If you are not going out of the office at lunchtime, at least make sure you take a break.

Taking a break for lunch means that you get to rest your mind and body.

As mentioned earlier, once I was diagnosed with a chronic illness, taking a break at lunchtime became essential. Working from home meant that I could lie down during my lunch break. This short break meant that I was more equipped to make it through the rest of the afternoon.

If I used that time to do chores, it made my afternoons all that much harder.

Drink lots of water

I know lots of people like to have a water bottle on their desk and take sips regularly. That’s a great idea. But I also like the idea of having to get up and move around to get a glass of water. It just adds a little bit more movement into your day

Move

In a perfect world, I would be stretching and doing neck exercises throughout the day. I am the first to admit I don’t stretch as much as I should.

But I do try to move out of my chair quite often.

Whether it is making a cup of tea or spending some time patting my cat (which is not to be underestimated, as the health benefits of having a pet have been well documented).

Spend some time outside

On a lovely day, when working from home, I may sit out in the courtyard and relax in the sun for a few minutes. Getting out of my apartment, even if it’s just sitting out in my courtyard, can have a positive influence on my day.

If I am working in the office, when I pop out to buy a cup of tea, I always take a moment to look up at the sky, feel the breeze on my face and admire the trees in the street. It’s a very small thing, but it helps me feel like I have appreciated my day more by getting out of the office.