In our busy-loving modern society, far too many of us have had the experience of eating lunch while we work-if we even eat lunch at all. At the end of the day, it’s far too common to feel anxious, exhausted, and mentally drained. And even if our to-do lists got accomplished, powering through without a pause can do more harm than good. This article explores the benefits of taking frequent breaks for anxiety, as well as a few tips to get you started.
Why should you take breaks?
Research has shown that taking breaks can:
- Reduce and prevent stress
- Improve productivity throughout your day
- Reduce the need for a long recovery at the end of your day
- Increases levels of energy at work while decreasing exhaustion
- Return your mental and physical functioning to their baseline
- Reset your mood and promote positive wellbeing
Short, frequent breaks can help you accomplish more, especially if you ever experience anxiety. A short pause throughout your day helps reboot your mind to be more tuned in later on. While it’s not always possible to design the perfect break, here are some helpful ideas to optimize your time.
1. Set boundaries around communication. While it’s natural to have some overlap between your personal and professional lives, your health should keep them as separate as possible. You can start by creating separate personal and professional user accounts on your devices. Your computer and phone should have a separate login for work-related tasks. When working, limit personal communication by muting notifications on your phone or simply putting it in another room.
Similarly, protect your downtime by turning off notifications for work apps and email accounts. Not only will this prevent notifications and reminders from distracting you during your downtime, but a dedicated login can help reduce any distractions and keep you more focused throughout the day.
2. Try to engage in something that gives you a sense of joy or comfort. Choose activities that aren’t similar to what you’re already doing. If you’re doing your taxes and take a break to do some calculus problems, it probably won’t be that helpful. For people who work jobs that require a mental effort, breaks that involve exercise or nature are great for relieving stress. Not only that, but according to research, spending time or even looking at images of nature can resupply the cognitive performance deficits associated with higher levels of stress.
3. When you’re feeling the midafternoon slump coming on, any form of exercise that increases your heart rate can help. Not only is this helpful for anxiety, but any form of exercise oxygenates the brain can quickly lift any fog and refocus your mind. If you’re feeling scatterbrained, engage in mood-boosting activities. Research has shown that practicing a mindfulness exercise in the morning can allow you to focus better and pay attention throughout the day or try a jigsaw puzzle or sudoku.
4. Listen to your body. If scheduling your breaks seems like a lot of effort, there’s another option. Start paying attention to your body throughout the day. Do your eyes start hurting from looking at the computer screen after a few hours in? Do your legs feel stiff from sitting in the same position for hours on end? Are you yawning even a couple of minutes? These signals have a purpose. They’re telling you it’s time for a break.
5. Practice schedule blocking. Also known as time blocking, these built-in breaks throughout your day help you master your day in the following ways:
- Helps you make the most out of small blocks of time. When you notice a few free minutes are coming up, you can pop in a minor task like scheduling that doctor’s appointment you’ve been putting off or placing an online order for lunch.
- It helps you get a better sense of how long things take you to do and how much time you have available. While it’s scary to confront it, it’s the first step towards improving the situation.
- It prevents you from experiencing ‘the fear or forgetting.’ When you’re anxious about forgetting something, you lose your focus. Take your planner and build in a page every day where you can capture ideas and tasks whenever you remind yourself of them. It gives your mind confidence that not only will you deal with it later, but you can now focus your attention on the block you’re working on without a fear that you’ll miss or forget it.
6. Prioritize your breaks. While it’s clear that breaks are beneficial, it’s less clear how to build your perfect break. It depends on the person, what kind of work you do, and your situation. Let’s take socializing, for example. Lunch with your colleagues can feel like a fun way to disconnect from work and improve your social support and mood. But, there’s another side to it. For example, if your supervisor is at the table, you may be spending most of your energy monitoring what you say and do, making you feel more anxious than you were before.
7. Have a shutdown ritual. End your workday with a shutdown ritual that helps your brain process and accepts that work is over. You can write a to-do list, go for a walk, or take a few deep breaths. Anything that shakes off the last dregs of work mode will allow you to relax and look forward to your evening ahead.
Sources
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/01/break
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-use-time-blocking-to-manage-your-day-4797509
www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness
This blog post was written by Mbobek on Fiverr, I partner with writers on Fiverr who are specialists and passionate about the topics we choose to share with you. Subscribe for more business, sales and investing posts. Have a lovely day.
Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobooks
