Take a break!
Taking a break properly has to be learnt, as not all time out from work provides the right amount of relaxation and makes us more productive. A few tips for everyday working life.
Be honest: have you taken a break today? Or perhaps even more than one? Breaks are important and boost our performance. We work more creatively, attentively and accurately after a proper break. Health experts recommend putting down our work for a few minutes every hour. This applies particularly to those spending several hours in front of a screen.
When it’s time for a break
It is always better to take a break too early than too late. Particularly when concentrating hard on a task, you might not notice that your body and mind are already tired and need some time out. This is counterproductive, as the longer you continue working when tired, the more quickly you’ll become exhausted.
Pay attention therefore to your body’s signals: once tiredness sets in, your breath will become more shallow, your pulse rate will increase and your concentration will decline. Now it’s really time to take a short break from your work.
Frequent short breaks are better than one long one
However, lying down for half an hour may not achieve the desired effect, as several short breaks are more conducive to recuperation than one long one. Too long a break can interrupt your workflow, and readjusting yourself to it afterwards costs a lot of energy again. Moreover, it is thought that the recuperation effect is at its greatest in the first few minutes of a break. As a rule of thumb, it is therefore better to put down your work briefly at regular intervals than to take infrequent longer breaks. You should preferably structure your working day accordingly and also enter short breaks into your calendar.
However, a long break makes sense if your body is already sustaining an energy slump. This is mostly the case at around midday. Make use of this longer break to have a meal and unwind.
Rules for ETH employees
The rules for breaks at ETH Zurich are as follows:
“Each unit of four hours’ work entitles the employee to a 15-minute paid break. This break is intended to interrupt working hours and is not to be taken near the beginning or end of working hours. Work must be interrupted for at least 30 minutes at lunchtime. This interruption is not defined as part of working hours.”
Further information about working time: Uniform implementation of working time.
Switching off during breaks
In order to be able to resume work well rested afterwards, you should do something during the break that differs as much as possible from your other activity. So if you largely sit in front of a screen, some exercise is called for during the break: go for a walk round the block. As you do so, take some deep breaths and focus your attention on the present. Brief relaxation exercises can also be helpful. The ”traditional” break activity is also a good way of relaxing – chatting with colleagues over a cup of coffee.
Catching your breath when working from home
The boundaries between free time and work can quickly become blurred when working from home. As you don’t have to travel to work and therefore have more time to work through your to-do list, there is a risk of accumulating overtime and forgetting to catch a breath in between. There is also no direct social exchange with work colleagues and joint trips to the coffee machine.
It is therefore all the more important to include short breaks spread throughout the day when working from home: open the windows, take a breather or chat for a few minutes with your neighbour. And a trip to the laundry room or letterbox is also a way to get some exercise.
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