Taking breaks at work is actually a really great idea. It helps you to re-energise and refocus an hour or two later, as well as giving you a time to just relax and appreciate life. I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the main benefits of taking a break – not only to give you some encouragement, but also food for thought about why taking breaks is so important. From improving your focus and productivity, to improving the way you think, what we’ll see is that taking breaks can actually help take your performance to the next level.
We all know that breaks are important for our health and well-being, but did you know that taking a break when your brain needs it can actually help you learn more?
While we work, our brains run on two different modes: the logical left side and the more creative and intuitive right side. When we’re learning new things, our brain’s default mode is to switch from left to right—from logical to creative and intuitive—so that the subconscious can work to process everything we’ve learned and absorbed during the day. But this process requires a short break every so often—just when your brain needs it most. An alert will notify you when it’s time for a short break so that your rest comes at the optimal moment – just when your brain needs it most.
Here are more reasons why your brain needs breaks from work:
1. Brain fatigue. When you’re working on something for a long period of time without taking breaks, your brain can become fatigued and unable to focus on the task at hand. In fact, studies show that people who take regular breaks are more productive than those who don’t!
2. Improved creativity. Breaks allow your brain to process everything you’ve learned throughout the day and make connections between ideas that may not have been possible when working at full capacity. This allows you to come up with creative solutions and ideas while working on difficult problems or projects where the answers aren’t immediately apparent.
3. Improved memory. Taking regular breaks allows your brain to process information more effectively which leads to better memory retention over time (especially important for students).
Taking short breaks is essential, as they help your brain to process and filter out the information you have learned. This, in turn will benefit your work productivity and make it more effective. Even if you were to come back to the task after a few minutes, your mind would start afresh and you can put your concentration and focus into it, thereby eliminating the complications of mental blocks caused by frequent distractions.
In the end, and with all of this being said, it’s important to remember not to be too hard on yourself.
There is no magic formula for getting things done, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. The key is figuring out what works best for you, and then sticking with it. If your system involves a lot of distractions and social media consumption, then sometimes you need to put that aside in order to get your work done efficiently. Everyone’s got their own routine, so it makes sense that everyone’s got their own way of staying productive; use these apps as a resource when you need them, but don’t get too caught up in using their alerts or other tools if they aren’t really making a positive difference.