Newstricky| Your breaks are more than just time to sit and not work; they are a time when you can revitalize yourself, refresh how you are feeling, and reset. Done right, you can use your break to help boost creativity, reduce stress, and generally help you get more fulfillment out of your every day.
Breaks are important for every aspect of life, even the parts we enjoy. Committing hour upon hour of time to your hobby might be fun, and you may not even notice the time go past, but if you don’t take a break to refuel, you’ll quickly burn yourself out.
Taking breaks means pacing your body and giving it what it needs (both physically and mentally) to give yourself the space to reset, refocus, and restart. It can help your personal life, your interests, and your hobbies.
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What You Should Not Do on Your Breaks
You should not work through your breaks. You should also not sit at your desk and scroll through your phone. You need to remove yourself from the situation and work on how you can improve your physical and mental state. What you do will depend entirely on your preferences, but the tips in this guide are fairly universal and can help keep you going and stay motivated no matter what task is at hand.
What You Should Do on Your Breaks
There are a few essential tips that everyone should try out to improve their break and, as a result, improve their productivity, motivation, and satisfaction.
Leave Your Desk
The first thing that you should do when you go on a break is to physically remove yourself from the area you were working in. This could be to go to the breakroom, but you may find you get the best benefits by going outside.
Eat and Drink
Have a healthy snack and drink water while you are on your break. This will work to improve your blood sugar levels and help you think faster and feel less stressed. It’s always important to care for your physical needs first, as these can often go unnoticed until more extreme symptoms show up like mental fatigue or even headaches.
Stretch and Move
Good circulation means giving your brain and body access to more nutrients and oxygen. If you want to really enjoy a good boost, getting up and going for a walk or even doing some light stretches before you sit back down can do wonders for your cognition and motivation.
Great Tips for Further Improving Your Break
Those three tips are essential, but they don’t consider how you can have fun. Igniting your brain with exhilaration and taking your attention away from work, or at least giving it something new to work on while you try to relax, can actually help you process information and give you that little break you need to come back to a problem with fresh eyes.
Introduce New Flavors
From trying new foods to new drinks to even going to order vape juice online in new flavors, there are many ways that you can introduce new flavors to your breaks. This tip is, of course, better suited to either your lunch break or, if you are a vaper, on any break you can take that lets you go outside, but the point still stands. If you want your brain to think of new things, give it new sensations to enjoy – and taste is one of the most powerful.
Do Something Creative
There are so many ways that you can do something creative for a short period of time. You can go and write, listen to music, dance, complete a puzzle, and so on. There are many ways that you can get your creative brain going. Though it isn’t ideal to be on your phone, there are many puzzle games and the like that can really engage your brain and help you get your mind off of your work.
Get Fresh Air
One of the best types of breaks is when you get outside. If you can, try to go for a short walk around the greenest area near you. Being around nature is very soothing and is great for your mental health, and the fresh air and light exercise can help you reset and feel better overall in just a few short minutes. Even going for a snack break to an outside garden or your backyard can do wonders.
Use Cold Water
Sometimes you just need a splash of cold water on your face and wrists to wake yourself up and feel invigorated. If you are at home, you can even try a cold shower, which does wonders for your health and can help improve your productivity.
