40 tabs are open on the laptop, 1,567 unanswered messages are waiting in the e-mail inbox, a reminder pops up on the smartphone and the birthday present for the aunt still has to be bought. Many of us know the feeling of being constantly under pressure.
When to-do lists are particularly busy, there seems to be no time for a break. Or walking around the block might even seem like a waste of time. But no matter how stressful it is, we need small rest periods in everyday life to be able to breathe deeply. Skipping breaks is not a good idea.
Breaks are important to recharge the batteries
The small rest periods ensure that we can reduce stress and replenish our resources. If you keep your system running at full speed, you will soon notice the first signs of wear and tear. “If there is a permanent lack of relaxation, physical and psychosomatic complaints can be the result,” said Johannes Wendsche, psychologist at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAUA), compared to “Barmer”. The most common consequences: being irritable, having trouble sleeping, back and neck pain, and stomach problems.
Scrolling on the phone is not relaxing
When you look from the screen to the window more and more often or you get the feeling that your head is about to bang on the desk from tiredness, it’s actually already too late for a break. For the working day, it is therefore important to plan breaks in advance. According to Wendsche, the concept of short breaks has become established. Every hour or two, you should rest for about two to five minutes.
But: A real break should be taken. If you scroll through the Instagram feed on your cell phone, if you continue to sit in front of your laptop and read an article or surf the web, you don’t really take a break. These are so-called “masked pauses”. We interrupt our work, but we don’t shut down during this time and don’t relieve our brain.
What we find relaxing
But what is restorative for us depends not so much on the activity itself, but on how we perceive it. The psychologists Sabine Sonnentag and Charlotte Fritz have worked out which factors play a role in determining whether an activity is relaxing using the so-called Dramma model. After that, six points are important:
- Detachment: If you want to be able to switch off, you have to be able to distance yourself from work or everyday stress. For example, it can make sense to turn off notifications in teams or in emails.
- relaxation A day off with plenty of rest can help. In everyday life, it can help to take a walk during the lunch break or to be conscious of the here and now through meditation.
- Autonomy (independence): For a break to be relaxing, you have to be able to organize it the way you want it. The colleagues all want to have lunch together in the canteen – that doesn’t have to be the right way for your own relaxation. If you’ve been in meetings all day, you might prefer to eat something alone in the park.
- Mastery (challenging activity): Of course it can be nice to let yourself be sprinkled by a series. But according to the dramma model, we need an activity that appeals to our abilities. Learning something new can help you recover. So how about knitting some stitches or swinging the brush?
- Meaningfulness: What we do in our rest time, we should perceive as meaningful. A meaningful activity also leads to relaxation. This can be a conversation with colleagues during the lunch break or collecting garbage in the neighborhood.
- Affiliation (binding): So far, all points have in common that you can do them alone. For our own recovery, it can also be important that we strengthen the bond with colleagues, friends, partners or family.
For our (small) breaks we can use this model as a guide. It is also a guide for leisure or vacation. If you find it difficult to take a break at work or in the hectic family life, you can set a timer on your smartphone to remind yourself of the rest time.
Not in every situation, the same kind of break helps us. For example, if you’re tired but can’t get any rest, dozing off or listening to music won’t help you recover. On the other hand, a round of yoga or knitting can be helpful. Doctor Saundra Dalton-Smith identifies seven types of recovery. Depending on how you are doing, you need a different break. In the photo gallery you will find the seven types of breaks.
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Source: Stern
