Taking regular breaks at work is recommended to keep from losing concentration and to stay energised. But how much is enough?

While we know that taking regular breaks at work helps to re-energise you, keeps you from losing focus and helps boost creativity, no one seems quite sure how long we should be taking in between breaks or how long our breaks should be.

That’s because it differs from person to person and from job to job. What we can tell you is that if you’re starting to drift or daydream, it’s probably time for a short break.

At the same time it’s unadvisable to take a break when you’re on a roll and really into your work – the aim of a break is to get the creativity flowing and if it’s already there, you don’t want to get in its way.

So if the point of a break is to re-energise and get the creative juices flowing, what exactly should we be doing during these breaks?

You could try stretching, walking around or even just focusing on a different task for a short while (yes, it can be enough to just take a break from the specific task and not your entire job).

The point of the break should be for you to detach from whatever you’ve been working on so you can come at it again with fresh insight and a new perspective. You’ll need to figure out what’s best for your own productivity levels and what kind of setup best suits your attention span and creativity.

It might be that 15 minutes bursts of work are best for you, or 30-minute intervals or even hourly… You’ll just have to see.

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How do often do you take breaks at work?
By: Miss Knowitall