Brain Stimulation: How Taking Short Breaks During Your Day Can Help

Your Work Day Can Help

Working in an office or even from a dedicated space in your home is something we have all become accustomed to as we progress in our professional careers. If your job is based primarily in an office environment, it’s of the utmost importance that you have a break from your surroundings from time to time.

Resting Your Brain

Most people only have the ability to focus for short periods, and many of us cannot focus properly for more than 30 minutes at a time. When we take this into consideration, it becomes more evident that there should be mechanisms in place whereby we can give our brain a break and focus on something totally work-unrelated.

Having something to distract from work, such as an interactive game or access to nature, can be highly beneficial to your mental well-being and can help increase productivity levels throughout the day. Taking breaks and catching a breath of fresh air helps to rejuvenate the brain and allows you to approach the next chunk of work with a fresh mind.

Often, when we have been working on something for an extended period, it’s difficult to maintain a consistently dynamically approach. When you’ve given your mind, and thought patterns a chance to catch up with themselves, you allow yourself to consider ideas and solutions from a different angle, thereby adding quality to the work you are busy with.

The importance of movement in work breaks

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Great ideas were not born in a board room”. We often come up with our best ideas and solutions to problems while walking or on a run. Movement enables us to think clearly and promotes a better mindset in our approach to given tasks.

When you take a break from work, one of the most important things you must incorporate is bodily movement. This helps to promote blood flow, which is essential for supplying oxygen to the brain, promoting feelings of rejuvenation and deeper focus, albeit for shorter periods.

Taking breaks is also equally important in meetings. If you are hosting a meeting, expecting a team to pay attention for a full 2 hours is unreasonable, and its unlikely that the team with give their all towards the end of the session. For this reason, it’s important to encourage breaks every 30 minutes, where meeting participants need to get up, walk around, and put their minds on something else other than the meeting at hand.

Movement can be encouraged either as a group activity or by taking walks around the office space or breakout areas. Offices should have facilities available to their employees where they can participate in activities that have nothing to do with the work they have to do. Something like a table tennis table or foosball table encourages movement during short breaks but also advocates team building and collaboration. For home offices, having something to take your mind off your tasks is also worth investing in.

Taking Breaks In Nature

If you have the space, one of the best things for work breaks is a walk outside in nature. Although elements like fresh air and sunshine have positive effects on human physical health, the outdoors does wonders for mental health too.

The concept of biophilia is the theory that humans have an intrinsic attachment and love for nature, which is why it is theorised that nature has a calming effect on us. Walks out in the garden, in the park, or any grassy patch at the workplace is the perfect way to spend even a 10-minute break.

If a walk out in the open is not possible, one of the other ways we can reconnect with nature during downtime is by integrating it into the office or workspace. The concept of biophilic design is trending among interior designers and promotes the inclusion of houseplants, natural ornaments and water features.

The calming effects that nature has on the human psyche mean that you can return to a task at hand with a fresh mind. This is especially important if you are dealing with a task that is particularly stress-provoking. Taking a step back and reevaluating the matter can lead to more optimal decision-making.

Optimal Focus Times

Studies have shown that our brains can only focus for around 30 minutes at a time. This doesn’t mean that anything done beyond 30 mins is necessarily useless. It does, however, mean that the optimal working time is within the first 30 mins of beginning a task. This is another reason why it’s important to reset every 30 minutes, as it improves the overall amount of time during a day you remain focused.

This pattern of working is becoming increasingly popular for home and office workers, where people practice breathing, physical exercise, and gameplay during their 10-minute breaks. Companies that have studied productivity levels have confirmed that they have noticed a positive shift with this type of work pattern.

Making Breaks Work For You

Mental health and happiness in the workplace are two of the sociological factors that affect people’s approach to work today. For this reason, they are both aspects of company culture and employee retention that remain at the top of the priority list.

Sky Inside has manufactured products that can be easily integrated into office spaces like breakout rooms that promote gameplay, interaction, and physical movement. Additionally, our range of digital windows are the ideal addition to a home or private office, seamlessly integrating nature into a room to promote serenity and calmness in a working environment. To find out more about our products, get in touch with our friendly team today to hear more about the solutions we can offer you.