In the fast-paced world of work, the idea of taking breaks often gets overshadowed by looming deadlines and the never-ending to-do list. According to an article by Wirecutter, a section of The New York Times, humans aren't designed to work for extended periods without pause. Research shows that the more people are forced to be productive, the less productive they become. When employees don’t step away from their work, mistakes are more likely to be made and less tasks are likely to be accomplished. Thus, it’s extremely important to take a break and clear your mind. As cancer patients and survivors navigate balancing of work and health, the importance of taking breaks becomes even more evident – particularly if managing side-effects like chemo-brain. Below are recommendations from The Wirecutter article, You Should Take More Breaks During Work. Here’s How to Make Time for Yourself, to build breaks into your schedule and optimize your breaks to boost productivity.

1. Determine when you are most effective versus most likely to make mistakes. By tracking when you usually work on what tasks within your work day, and how you feel, you can figure out what time of day you should take your breaks. Start by tracking your days (some helpful apps are Toggl Track and RescueTime.) Divide your tasks into analytical, creative and downtime and look for patterns in how you spend your days. When are you most productive? When do you do more shallow work? When do you usually take a mental break? Are there times of the day when you experience less side-effects? Schedule your most important tasks and meetings during the hours you feel physically best and most productive.
2. Schedule breaks and enforce boundaries. Depending on what your company allows, try taking several mini breaks or a handful of longer breaks. Schedule them with yourself by using different calendar functions. For instance, Google Calendar has a “focus time” that declines new meeting requests and Google Workspace and Microsoft Outlook can create built-in breaks by five or ten minutes. When you are on a break, make sure to use ‘Do not Disturb’ features to pause incoming notifications so you can withdraw from work for a moment. 
3. Leave your workspace. If you can, try taking a walk outdoors to improve your mood and help your sleep. Walk your dog, grab a coffee, get lunch with a coworker, walk around the block, etc.
4. Take a nap. For some, a 20-30 minute power nap may immediately help your energy, mood, alertness, concentration and more. However, if you’re like me, you may need more time to shake off the sleep-inertia from a nap. If you’re not sure how napping affects you, we recommend trialing napping at different lengths before doing so during the workday. Also remember, different workplaces may have different policies about napping on the job.
5. Engage with others. Human interaction can greatly improve your mood. However, if you go out to lunch with your colleague just to talk about work, it doesn’t actually count as a break. Make sure your conversations are disconnected from “work” talk or reach out to other personal relationships in your life.

As always, you will want to follow the policies and rules set by your employer, but remember that a break can be a short – as long as it’s a break! Even following the 20-20-20 rule can reduce eye strain  (looking away from your digital screen at something 20 feet away, for 20 seconds every 20 minutes). 

For more ways to manage working with brain fog, click here. You may also be interested in watching our short animated video, How to Maintain Focus At Work.