BBC – Capital – The tiny breaks that soothe your body and restart your brain



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Power of one hour

There is a scene in the classic sitcom The Office, where David Brent – the last grumpy boss, without any self-awareness – speaks in a motivating way. "Laughter is the best medicine," he explains, explaining to his staff that it reduces stress and that he likes to do it several times a day. He demonstrates the technique by bursting into a craze of solo mania; although it only lasts about 30 seconds, it seems to last forever. The whole room turns into a deadly silence.

It turns out that, for once, Brent may have been on something. He inadvertently described what the experts call a "microbreak" – any brief activity that helps break the monotony of thorny tasks physically or mentally. They can last from a few seconds to several minutes and go from preparing a cup of tea to stretching or watching a video clip.

Although the breaks are tiny, they can have a disproportionate impact – studies have shown that they can improve workers' ability to concentrate, change the way they see their work and even help them avoid typical injuries that suffer the people tied to their desk all day.

If you regularly lean back to talk to your neighbor or take a quick glance at your phone, you may already have a good command of the technique.

As there is no consensus on how long the ideal microbreake will last or how often you should have it, it is up to the workers to experiment with what suits them best. In fact, if you bend regularly to talk to your neighbor or take a sneak peek at your phone, you may already be familiar with the technique. According to Sooyeol Kim, Ph.D. at the University of Illinois and expert in microbreaks, there are only two rules: they must be brief and voluntary.

Kim considers breaks as a way to deal with the fact that most people spend the majority of their day at work. "But in reality, our only official break is usually lunch, although some companies are planning a tea break or a half-time break of 10 or 15 minutes."

Calming effect

The technique was invented in the late 1980s by researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of Ohio and the Purdue University of Indiana. They wanted to know if fleeting breaks could increase productivity or reduce stress. They created an artificial desktop environment and invited 20 participants to "work" for two days to perform a "very repetitive" data entry task.

Each participant was entitled to a microbreak for every 40 minutes of work. During the break, which usually lasts only 27 seconds, the participants stopped working but stayed at their workstation.

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After tracking the heart rate and productivity of their "employees" before and after each break, the scientists found that the breaks were actually not as beneficial as they had hoped. Their numbers have actually performed less well on some tasks after their respite, for example by typing fewer keystrokes per minute. One thing, however, has remained the same: people taking slightly longer microbreaks tend to have a lower heart rate, suggesting that they have calmed them down. Their work does not need to be corrected as much.

There is now a wealth of evidence suggesting that they can be beneficial: reduce stress, maintain worker engagement and make work more enjoyable.

After decades of research, the microbreak has been redeemed. There is now a wealth of evidence suggesting that they can be beneficial: reduce stress, maintain worker engagement and make work more enjoyable. In the case of the data entry study, the longer breaks being related to better recovery, the scientists hypothesized that the microbreaks were perhaps just too short.

Why stretching is important

Despite evidence that microbreaks are useful, the only area in which they have been generalized is the reduction of the risk of developing injuries in the workplace. "We recommend them to all our clients," says Katharine Metters, an ergonomist, physiotherapist and health and safety expert at posturite ergonomics consulting firm.

The latest figures from the UK government agency HSE show the magnitude of the problem they are tackling. Between 2017 and 2018, 469,000 British workers suffered musculoskeletal injuries acquired as a result of their employment. According to Zaheer Osman, founder and director of the ergonomics consulting firm Adept Ergonomics, most people do not realize they are hurting themselves before being injured, which is already too late. Like Metters, he strongly advocates the use of microbreaks.

Microbreaks are thought to help us cope with the long periods spent at our office by relieving certain body structures – such as the neck – that we use all day long.

The tiny breaks are supposed to help us deal with the long periods spent at our office by relieving certain body structures – such as the neck – that we use all day long. "The important thing is that they are taken regularly," says Metters. This should go without saying, but if you indulge in microbreaks to give your body – rather than your brain – a rest time, watching music videos will not do the trick – it's best to do something of physics, such as getting up or changing position.

Surgery is an area where this has become particularly obvious. In an area requiring extreme precision, where mistakes cost patients regularly, it is important to find ways to help these specialists avoid painful distractions and maintain their zen concentration. In 2013, a small study examined whether microbreaks can help. Two researchers from the University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, tested 16 surgeons to determine if tiny 20-second breaks every 20 minutes affected their physical and mental fatigue.

For the experiment, the surgeons were first "stressed" by performing complex operations in real life and then evaluated in an adjacent room. They were asked to draw the outline of a star with their surgical scissors (a variation of a classic experimental game, used in this case to test their accuracy) and to see how long they could support a weight important with an extended weight. arms.

Each one was tested three times: once before an operation, once after an operation where they were allowed to microbreaks and once after an operation without microbreaks. During breaks, they were asked to briefly leave the work area and do some stretching.

Remarkably, surgeons were seven times more accurate in their designs after operations where they were allowed to microbreaks. They also suffered from less than half physical fatigue and felt less pain in the back, neck, shoulders and wrists.

Disengage from work

Not only do microbreaks bring a range of serious benefits, but they also give workers permission to indulge in what may seem like a waste of time. According to one study, taking the time to surf the Internet – even if it's not more than 12% of the day – or observing the flowering meadows can improve productivity and help employees focus. In fact, some scientists believe that the use of your microbreaks is an essential part of their operation.

Taking the time to surf the Internet or watching flowering meadows can improve productivity and help employees focus

Take a study led by Kim in 2018. With colleagues at the University of Illinois, he wanted to know if microbreaks could help people in emotionally draining jobs, especially where there are had a gap between what they felt inside and what they had to be. in public. The team chose the call centers as the ideal place to study this question.

The participants were a group of South Korean telemarketers selling products such as credit cards and insurance. After a first survey, everyone was asked to provide their daily sales performance records for a period of two weeks, during which time they were also asked to complete an investigation before and after each workday. These questions included questions about their "positive affect" – the extent to which they experienced positive feelings, such as happiness and optimism – the workload and any microbreaks they had experienced.

The results were striking. Those who did not feel involved in their work seemed to benefit from taking microbreaks; they were linked to increased productivity and more positive feelings. But this was the case only for breaks that involved certain activities, such as relaxing, chatting with colleagues or other more demanding activities, such as surfing the Internet. Strangely, the breaks used to nibble did not provide any benefit.

One explanation is that snack breaks tend to overlap with other types of closures, as does being sociable, making it harder to discern their impact. But another explanation is that the other breaks were more enjoyable. "Just suppress your hunger or thirst, does that always make you happy?" Says Kim. "Sometimes, just remove your discomfort."

Microbreaking while watching a fun video clip left people refreshed and more attentive, with less fatigue and delays in their response times during a cognitive test

The discovery corresponds to the idea that microbreaks allow a process called "psychological detachment", which occurs when you mentally disengage from work-related tasks and allow your brain to recover. It's about actively moving the focus of your thoughts so that you do not think about work while you're trying to relax.

Andrew Bennett, a social scientist, studied microbreaks as part of his doctoral dissertation while at Virginia Commonwealth University. His main discovery is that microbreaking by watching a fun video clip left people invigorated and more attentive, with less fatigue and less significant delays in their response times during a cognitive test.

Rename it if necessary

Of course, watching TV clips may not appeal to your boss – but there are many other ways to fight microbreaky without feeling like you are jumping. Here are some expert tips.

"A good way to force yourself to take a break is to have a very large bottle of water at your desk. You'll have to go to the bathroom – so it's a good way to force yourself to get up while staying hydrated, "says Osman.

Bennett's advice is not to let them hang out too long. "A microbreak is not the time to catch up on several new episodes of a TV show!"

Kim would like to point out that the way people spend their microbreaks should appeal to them because different industries are likely to support different types of breaks. "Organizations may want to create a free environment where their employees can seize opportunities for recovery based on their needs and teach their employees how to balance pressure and well-being," he says.

Metters recommends doing some stretching at your desk, going to the window to see what's going on outside – "It relaxes my eyes and my brain," she says – or even just lean back for one moment. If you're worried that you can not fight to space your breaks evenly, she suggests placing an hourglass on your desk.

If you're thinking of asking your employer for permission to take microbreaks, Osman has some clever advice: do not call it a break, call it a "change of activity". They might be worried at the prospect that their staff will watch famous cat videos or check their phone every few minutes.

Similarly, if your leader spontaneously laughs or notices that your colleagues are touching between meetings, keep in mind that they may be resetting their brains before their next productivity surge.

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