The Importance of Breaks

There is no doubt in anyone's mind that everyone needs breaks. Your personal experience alone will tell you it's true and the amount of scientific studies proving this in all fields with all ages is staggering... So why is there still so much push-back around providing regular breaks in the corporate world?

"They're adults; they don't need breaks."

I've heard that said in different forms many different times from many different people since I've entered the corporate environment, and I've always found it to be shocking. Clearly, it's a cultural shift, as no one in the education world would ever say something like that. In fact, most educators would respond by saying, "Actually, as adults, they need them more!"

Why? First, let's qualify what I mean when I say "break" because breaks come in many forms, shapes, and sizes:

Break Type	Duration	Description	When to Use
Bio Break 🚻	Approx. 3 min (1-5 minutes)	Quick bathroom/ stretch break opportunity.	​So often I see people having to (interrupt to) excuse themselves from meetings or trainings to use the restroom and missing crucial information in the process. This can be easily avoided. We all need to use the restroom from time to time--we know this. If as leaders and trainers we plan for this by specifically working mini breaks into the training AND telling people about when they will occur at the start of the training, we avoid this all together. This also makes learners feel comfortable, seen, and makes you look like a better prepared (and methodical) facilitator. I recommend providing one of these every 30 minutes.
Rest Break ☕️	Approx. 10 - 15 min	Decent length break for a walk (virtual) and/or quick socialization/ water cooler chat (if in person).	Rest breaks serve the same function as bio breaks, but provide a larger timeframe so that participants could use some of the time to also engage in another task, like checking their work email. By providing a designated break time for learners to do some of their job-required tasks can help prevent multi-tasking during the actual training and/or meeting, which helps increase learner attention and retention. Like bio breaks, it's important to tell learners when these breaks will occur at the start of the session; it's also important to remind them that this designated time is set aside specifically for them to check emails and messages (and that they should no be doing that during the session since that time has been provided for them).
Lunch Break 🍽	Approx. 45 min (30 - 60 minutes)	Opportunity to completely step away, regroup, reset, and eat.	This is the break most people are familiar with and is most "acceptable" in any environment. Everyone knows people need to have some lunch and get a break, but there is still a lot of variation with this break type. For example, we have "working lunches" in which people are expected to eat while still attending or engaging in a meeting or training. We also see a wide variation in length for lunch breaks ranging from 20 minutes to 2 hours. Best practice shows (and studies support) learners need at least a full hour lunch break mid-day in order for them to fully disconnect and reset, so they return re-charged. Why an hour? Sadly, this break often becomes a catch-all break. If this the only break they get--which it sadly often is--most people will want to (or need to) check their work email as part of this time. People will also need to travel to get food or prep food. They also need to eat (and we all know how much rushing our eating negatively impacts our health). They will often also need to use the restroom or get coffee as well. And if they're working from home, they may also need to check on kids, animals, etc. As you can see, even a full hour for all of these tasks can leave workers feeling rushed rather than rested.
Brain Break 🎯	Approx. 3 min (30 sec - 15 minutes)	A fun game or activity that breaks up the learning & can create community that is built into the learning.	Live trainers can often read the room and *feel* when their participants are starting to loose focus or even see them "get squirmy" as I used to call it when I worked with younger learners. In a virtual environment, providing an opportunity for learners to re-engage their minds and bodies is just as important, but it's harder to gauge in real-time. That's why it's essential to build in brain breaks to your trainings. Brain breaks are opportunities for participants to interact with the facilitator and/or each other through a fun (usually off-topic) brief activity that helps break up the subject matter. There are a wide variety of brain breaks for all ages and for all training platforms (live as well as virtual). It would take an entire separate entry to cover brain breaks in depth, but something as simple as "describe your mood by throwing 3 emojis in the chat" is enough to help break up the material and get learners re-engaged.
Guided Break 🧘	Approx. 3-10 min	A guided meditation, dance, etc.	This is probably the least recognized break form, but it can be extremely beneficial. Recently, I have been to more and more conferences that are incorporating this best practice by providing quick guided medication, gentle chair yoga, or even dance/ movement breaks for their learners. Especially in the virtual working environment, we're often sitting for hours at a time staring at a screen. By giving learners a directed opportunity to close their eyes (avoid the screen), or an opportunity to stand, stretch, and move (un-kink the spinal cord and direct blood-flow to the brain), we are helping to physically repair and prepare our learner's brains for continued learning. I like to use these breaks strategically to chunk material, along with my other break types. After all, variety is the spice of life! NOTE: For learners new to this break type, it may feel unfamiliar or even uncomfortable at first. I suggest making sure your learners/ participants feel comfortable--which is a function of having created a trusting, respectful environment in general--before attempting this break type. I also recommend that the facilitator instruct learners that they may turn their camera off for privacy as they meditate or move, so they don't feel seen or judged. In this way, being virtual actually makes this break type much less intimidating for shy learners.

These are, of course, the "break basics" if you will, but I highly recommend looking more into each type for additional suggestions and best practices on each, as well as a scientific research behind the importance of each type.

Now, go take a little break to reward your brain for reading all this and learning, since breaks also have the added benefit of allowing information you've just processed to sink in.