Wellbeing and Work: The Importance of Taking a Break

“Rest is not idleness,

“And to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day,

Listening to the murmur of the water,

Or watching the clouds float across the sky,

Is by no means a waste of time.”

– John Lubbock

 

This quote was shared by one of the participants of The Writers Hour, a zoom gathering of writers who have the opportunity to meet every day at 8am London time and write together for 50 minutes.  It came at just the right moment as I had been pondering what it means to take a break and to have time for rest during the working day.

When I was in my previous job as a hospital palliative care nurse specialist, I rarely took a proper break at any point during the day.  Lunches were mostly in front of the computer.  Maybe this was because we didn’t have a staff room or really anywhere to go away from the desk; maybe we were just too ‘busy’, or maybe it was the culture I worked in.

In the six years that I worked there I can count on one hand the number of times I actually left the hospital for lunch. Twice.  Both occasions were for a team picnic in the cemetery next to our hospital!  It’s crazy isn’t it, but not unusual.

During the worst of the pandemic when we probably needed to get away for a proper break more than at any other time we couldn’t.  We couldn’t just wander out to a café in our uniforms or PPE, and there was never enough time or inclination to change, only to have to immediately come back to the hospital and change back into uniforms or scrubs and get back to work.

The working culture I was ingrained in, and I know is not unusual, was about ‘just keeping going’.  When we did have quieter days the guilt would soon seep in.  What is that all about?  As humans our bodies need time to rest and recuperate to enable us to get the best from them.  We need the down time so we can perform at our best in the busy times

Since I left that job, taking a break has become one of the most precious parts of my day. Those of us who choose to leave conventional working patterns to pursue a freelance life often do so for the flexibility it can bring.  It is to escape the routine and rigidity of the 9-5.  It is the freedom to work your job around what suits you and take time off when you want or need to.

It still takes practice to realise it’s okay to be away from the desk for any period of time, and guilt can quickly kick in.  However, I’m gradually getting the hang of it, and increasingly I am realising the value in just ‘taking a break’.  Even if you are not in paid employment you will still have a routine or role that you will benefit from taking a break from during the day.

And here’s the thing, breaks don’t have to be long.  A break can be as short as half an hour when you choose to do  nothing, or something which is for you, which will restore you, or perhaps more importantly, maintain your mental and physical wellbeing.

Now, I always take proper time off for lunch.  I eat outside when I can, and take time to read a few pages of my book. Sometimes I go for a short walk or incorporate a trip to the post office or local shops.  I may also hang washing out, or empty the dishwasher, but taking a defined break away from the desk and the screen makes all the difference to how I work.

The Mental Health Foundation says that “A change of scene or a change of pace is good for your mental health. It could be a five-minute pause from cleaning your kitchen, a half-hour lunch break at work or a weekend exploring somewhere new. A few minutes can be enough to de-stress you”.

The Benefits

• Change of focus and a different perspective lead to increased creativity
• After a break we come back fresher with improved levels of concentration and energy
• The body has time to recuperate – if you are hunched over a computer all day, then changing your physical position is important to prevent those aches and pains in the back and neck area.
• Improved productivity
• Improved eating habits –  A Harvard study found that distracted eating i.e eating whilst doing other things like working leads to more food being consumed and weight gain.

As workers begin to return to offices and a new term has begun, it would seem an opportune moment to adjust the way we approach the working day.  The pandemic has taught us all many things, and the benefits of doing all we can to maintain good mental health is one of them.  This includes the way we work rest and play.