Taking lots of breaks is recipe for productivity at work says prof

MOST of us don’t make life and death decisions in our daily work (to have, or not to have, another coffee might be the biggest decision you’ll grapple with all day.)

But surgeons deal with patients’ lives. Which makes their jobs very stressful. But guess what, taking regular breaks (while carrying out surgery) is recommended by experts.

A study of surgeons doing complex laparoscopic surgery (a minimally invasive technique in the abdominal and pelvic areas) found that those who took a five minute break every 30 minutes not only had lower amounts of the stress hormone, cortisol, but made fewer mistakes than those who had to just keep going. And surprisingly, the operations didn’t take any longer than when they were carried out without breaks. The benefits are not just inside the head.

Another study of surgeons found that taking short breaks reduced joint pain as well as cutting levels of fatigue in half.

During a 13-minute break from work recently, I tuned into British media presenter (and former medical doctor) Dr Michael Mosley, on BBC Sounds, who was looking into the benefits of taking regular breaks at work. If you think that’s the preserve of dossers skulking out of the office, you’re underestimating the power of hanging loose during the typical eight hour working day.

What’s more, if you allow your mind to wander freely during your breaks, the benefits are even greater. ‘Day-dreaming’ is seen as being, if not quite up there with the seven deadly sins, in the category of waster. But it helps with creativity. And relaxing your mind. So next time your boss looks at you askance as you leave your screen for a short while, tell him/her that you’re working on your productivity levels.

Taking regular breaks “is one of the best things you can do on a busy day with a wealth of benefits for your body, mind and even your creativity and taking a break outside is particularly good for your mental health,” says Dr Mosley.

Breaks are good for your mental health, improving your ability to focus, reduce stress and restore attention.

The notion that we might all benefit from micro-breaks emerged from research carried out in the late 1980s in the US. It found that workers who took short breaks of up to about three minutes, produced not only more accurate work but had lower heart rates, suggesting a calming effect. Since then, the evidence for taking breaks from work has really stacked up.

Short breaks in particular have a disproportionately powerful effect.

Your instinct might be to say that taking breaks is self-indulgent but the evidence shows that if you get up and move around, you not only stabilise your blood sugars but also, you’ll find yourself more engaged and more productive - which will enhance your enjoyment of work.

Regularly looking away from your screen can improve the health of your eyes. A recent study of 800 university students found that periodically re-focusing on distant objects reduced symptoms of computer vision syndrome - things like eye strain, watery or dry eyes and blurred vision. It’s even better to get outside into nature.

Dr Mosley spoke to Professor Moshe Bar, a neuroscientist who this year published a book on mind wandering. The activity plays an important function in our mental and physical lives, not just for creativity but for improving mood and for decision making.

Professor Moshe says that we all want to be more creative in our thinking. Creative thinking requires a stage that is called incubation. If you want to come up with ideas to solve a problem, there’s the initial stage of divergent thinking where you create as many ideas as possible. There is no such thing as a stupid idea. The divergent thinking ends with convergent thinking, where you converge to the single solution. Down time is required to incubate the various thoughts.

Now, down time shouldn’t be spent scrolling on social media or watching TV (or listening to radio which drew me to this topic!) As Professor Moshe says, it’s important to realise that as “amazing as our brains are, still they are limited in capacity, ability and resources...so if you take the break when you’re in the right circumstances to wander creatively, obviously you don’t want to load your mind with something else.”

Your mind wandering “has a mind of its own, so to speak.”

Once you’re aware of your mind wandering, it can wander to a good place.

“Just let it be there for a few more minutes,” says the professor.

It’s not rocket science but rather a concept that is easy to understand and well worth practising. To have or not to have another coffee? Is there something over stimulating about caffeine though? Best to just step out in nature...