Take Your Work Breaks Earlier In The Day For A More Productive Day

Take Your Work Breaks Earlier In The Day For A More Productive Day

You know the importance of taking breaks during the day to get more done, but if you save your breaks until the afternoon, you might not be benefiting from your breaks as much as you could.

Photo by DonkeyHotey.

Fast Company cites research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology by Baylor University management scholars Emily Hunter and Cindy Wu:

“We found that when more hours had elapsed since the beginning of the work shift, fewer resources and more symptoms of poor health were reported after a break,” they write. “Therefore, breaks later in the day seem to be less effective. . . .”

The findings align with previous conceptual work arguing for the “front-loading of rest breaks” over a schedule that spaced out breaks evenly throughout the day. Obviously you don’t want to take a break right when you get to the office. But the general idea is that breaking early keeps your faculties near the high settings they had when the day began, so by the time the work day is done, they won’t have dipped so drastically.

I’ve been taking breaks when I feel my mental energy start to wane, but I guess I’ve been taking breaks all wrong. Time to take a break!

How to Take the Most Refreshing Work Break: 7 Evidence-Backed Insights [Fast Company]


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