Most workplaces have the standard break schedule: a break in the morning and a break in the afternoon not to mention a lunch break. It is far better to take more than two breaks and to front load more breaks in the morning. If you front load the breaks in the morning, then you give your mind and body a more efficient way to recover from work. If you wait too late and stretch out the breaks too long, then it takes more time to recover because you’ve expended more energy.
The standard mid morning/mid afternoon break is 15 minutes with lunch being scheduled anywhere from 30-60 minutes. If you were to take more breaks, then “management” would be concerned about how much time would be spent away from work. There are several options all of which leverage the sciences of micro-breaks (less than 3 minutes).
- Keep the two 15 minutes break and lunch break + add 2-3 microbreaks (less than 3 minutes) in the morning spaced out 50 minutes and 1-2 microbreaks in the afternoon spaced out 50 minutes.
- Keep one of the 15 minute breaks and lunch break + add add 4-5 microbreaks (less than 3 minutes) in the morning spaced out 30 minutes and 1-2 microbreaks in the afternoon spaced out 50 minutes.
The key is to take microbreaks if you are truly interested in “recharging your batteries” before they go “dead on you” or “weaken.”