Take a break
10 days ago
Taking a break gives you a chance to take a breather, physically resting, replenishing your energy levels by eating or having a drink, or taking a mental break.
Rest breaks can include tea breaks, lunch breaks, or other short breaks during the day. It is not just because of the regulations that breaks are important; it's because they are good for you too.
Some of the benefits you may enjoy when you take a break include:
- Reduced stress: Regular breaks interrupt the cycle of stress that can lead to being overwhelmed.
- Clearer thinking: Taking a break can lead to sharper thinking and increased creativity in all areas of your life.
- Increased productivity: All of this can make you better at your job, more available in your relationships, more energetic with your family, and more able to enjoy life.
Top tip: Have you heard of the 20-20-20 rule? Take a break from looking at screens for 20 seconds, after every 20 minutes, by looking at something else 20 feet away.
There are many ways to remind you to take breaks, or make yourself get up and move:
- Make yourself move. This can also be done with office equipment like your printer.
- Get in the habit. Get up to make yourself drinks or fill up your water regularly. Drinking lots of water is a healthy habit that’ll see you getting up for regular refills and comfort breaks. Win/win.
- Break by association. You can also associate a break or change in posture with tasks that you undertake regularly. For example, stand up and walk around when taking phone calls if it’s feasible. You can also combine this with the above and make sure you get up to make a drink or refill your water before the start of any meeting.
- Set reminders. Set a reminder to your work calendar, you can easily use technology to prompt you to move or take a break.
- Use software. Use Viva Insights on Teams to practice mindfulness, you will find videos from 3-10 minutes long.
- Task rotation. If you take on a number of different tasks, break them up into shorter jobs and alternate them. By alternating your tasks, you’re less likely to lose focus and you’ll invariably have microbreaks between different kinds of tasks.
Some staff within the authority are a part of the flexi time scheme allowing some degree of flexibility to their working hours. To read more about flexi time click here. Annual leave is vital to promote good physical and mental health in the workplace and will improve employees work-life balance. More information around time off and annual leave can be found by visiting the HR pages or reading the time off policy.
Article submitted by: Health & Wellbeing Team