Breaks

How often do you take a break in a day? How frequently? It’s more than just another box to check, along with all the other things you have to do. Breaks affect your health and your performance.

The Research

William S. Helton, PhD, a professor at George Mason University, conducted a study with students. For 45 minutes, they were to map, track and plan railway lines on a screen, which required sustained effort. One group of students performed the task with no breaks. Another group took a 5-minute break halfway through the task. No surprise, the students who took a break significantly outperformed the no-break students.

Helton said, “The study is one of many that finds focusing our attention for too long can wear us out. Prolonged work seems to be depleting. You start to fade out and there’s a decline in performance.” As we have all observed, prolonged work, whether it’s physical, mental or emotional, will diminish in quality over time.

The Reasons

While the advantage of taking breaks is common knowledge, we each have our own excuses reasons why we won’t take A break. Here are some common ones we use.

• I don’t have time.
• I don’t want to appear to be a slacker.
• I have to be on all the time.
• I don’t want to lose momentum.
• I’ll get more done if I keep going.

No matter what our favs are, they are just not true. NO study has shown that performance remains high after a prolonged period. Yet we continue to function as if we are cyborgs with no physical or cognitive limitations.

Steven Covey coined the Seventh Habit as “sharpening the saw.” He uses the analogy of someone sawing wood. After a while, the saw doesn’t’ work as well, so he saws harder. When asked why he won’t stop to sharpen the saw, he remarks, “Because I’m too busy sawing.” Hmm. There is a lesson in there, somewhere.

The Breaks

There are different kinds of breaks. Micro-breaks are the short, 5-minute step aways. Just be sure you actually step away. I know I’m guilty of this. Sometimes, I “take a break” by getting out of my chair, but I continue to think about what I’m working on. That’s not a break.

Then there are longer breaks, like a whole day away from everything. While it feels worrisome to take that much time away from work, we must gently remind ourselves that we are offline. This is the opposite to what previous generations learned. “24-7” was the rule of the day and we too often ended up as burned out and burned up carnage. The younger workforce isn’t interested.

Finally, there are extended breaks, often referred to as vacations. I’m so pleased when one of my clients report that they went away with their family for a week and didn’t bring their computer. They allowed for periodic check-ins, depending on the importance of current projects, but they prepared by delegating and communicating to everyone their intentions to be offline. Not a single one reported that they wished they brought along their computer. Another lesson learned. (Here are some more ideas about taking breaks)

The Question Redux

The question isn’t about the effectiveness of taking breaks or convincing us that we should take breaks. The question is, why don’t we? Maybe it’s time we acknowledge the research, admit to our humanness and assume responsibility for ourselves. TAKE BREAKS!