It's easy to get lost in your work and forget to take a break. But taking regular breaks is crucial for your productivity and mental health.
Below are some tips on when and how to take breaks, but this is often easier said than done! So tell us how YOU incorporate breaks into your day, and share what you do to decompress.
- Take short breaks every hour: Take a 5-10 minute break every hour to stretch, walk around, do some deep breathing.
- Step away from the screen: Give your eyes a break by looking away from the screen every 20 minutes or so. It's important to rest your eyes to avoid eye strain and headaches.
- Take a longer break mid-day: Take a longer break mid-day to recharge your energy levels. Go for a walk, exercise, or do something that you enjoy.
- Use the Pomodoro technique: Break your workday into 25-minute intervals, followed by a five-minute break. After four intervals, take a longer break.
Top comments (1)
Scheduling breaks definitely helps. I've learned that if I don't schedule things, I won't end up doing them. Pomodoro technique definitely helps when I'm coding so I highly recommend all developers use a variation of this technique.
However, I think the best tip when it comes to breaks is just reminding developers that it is 100% ok to take a break. I used to feel really guilty when I would take a break and felt pressure to keep working in order to accomplish what I needed to accomplish. Now I remind myself there's nothing wrong with taking a break and taking breaks is actually a good thing.