Community

The Power Of Taking Regular Breaks

I’m in my outdoor studio and I’m just getting myself ready to take a break out here. I’ve actually got my mat down there, I’ve got a bolster, I’ve got a lovely lavender eye cushion. And I’m got to take a short break.  # Boost Your Creativity And the reason I do this is it … Continued
Leanne Spencer

Leanne Spencer

3 Min Read

I’m in my outdoor studio and I’m just getting myself ready to take a break out here. I’ve actually got my mat down there, I’ve got a bolster, I’ve got a lovely lavender eye cushion. And I’m got to take a short break. 

# Boost Your Creativity

And the reason I do this is it improves creativity, it improves focus, it improves productivity. I see me getting better value from the work I do by taking regular breaks, and it’s not just me, it’s not just anecdotal evidence. There have been lots of studies. There’s a 2011 study that I was reading earlier, from the University of Illinois, that found multiple benefits from employees taking regular breaks in their day. 

# Other Benefits Of Taking A Break

And by break, I mean it could be two minutes in an hour, it could be taking a solid lunch break, or 10-minute breaks every few hours, maybe one in the morning, one in the afternoon. But they found that employee engagement went up as well as improved focus, improved concentration, improved creativity as well, and better problem solving. So tonnes of reasons why it’s really valuable to take a break.

# What Can You Do?

Now, you may not have a studio, you may not want to meditate or lie out with a bolster and an eye cushion. Maybe you stand in the sun, get some glorious benefits of Vitamin D3 and the energy that the sun provides. Or maybe you go off and do something completely different, but try and make it non screen-based, whatever it is you do. And what would be fabulous is to go out and just take a 10-minute brisk walk somewhere. Get fresh oxygenated blood flowing around the body, good for neurogenesis, the creation of new brain cells, good for the whole body to move. That’s what we were designed to do. We were designed to locomote. We were designed to move.

So that is my tip for you. I know most of you are working from home. You probably have sat your desk, you’re getting those tight quadriceps, you’re getting that slumped shoulders. A lot of our clients are reporting they’re feeling stiffer than ever because they’re just not moving at all, not even to get on a train, or to go to their manager’s office, or walk around the building. So please do move and please do take breaks. Both of them are going to have work wonders for your professional and your personal life, and make you feel better. 

Author(s)

  • Leanne Spencer

    Leanne is an award-winning entrepreneur and the founder of Bodyshot Performance Limited. She delivered a TEDx talk on 'Why fitness is more important than weight', is the author of bestselling books 'Remove the Guesswork' and 'Rise and Shine', and hosts a podcast called ’Remove the Guesswork‘. Leanne is the founder of Bodyshot Performance, an award-winning health and wellbeing company. Bodyshot Performance work with businesses of up to 500 people who want to create a culture of energy, vitality and performance through the business and position wellbeing as a competitive advantage. Bodyshot intersect the latest science and technology to provide unique solutions to the challenge of wellbeing in the workplace that have a direct impact on the bottom line. Our clients have won awards for wellbeing and recognise it directly improves employee engagement and retention and attracts talent into the business.  We also work with chronically stressed or burned out professionals to get you back in control of your health and able to do the things you want to do in life. My expertise is around health, fitness and wellbeing, specifically focusing on sleep, mental health, energy, body composition, digestion and fitness. I host a popular podcast on iTunes called ’Remove the Guesswork ‘, and in November 2016 I delivered a TEDx talk on 'Why fitness is more important than weight'. I’m the author of the bestselling books 'Remove the Guesswork' and 'Rise and Shine' and I regularly speak to corporates on health and wellbeing. My personal values are to live truthfully, considerately and to "suck all the marrow out of life" as Thoreau said. I support the charity Diversity Role Models which works to combat homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. I recently completed the world’s toughest ski race to raise £10,125 for Alzheimer's Research as my father-in-law was profoundly ill with Alzheimers, and I am on a constant mission to find ways to live in a way that is sustainable and environmentally friendly. I love sport, fitness, reading, gardening, business, podcasting, and being with my cat and our scampish little rescue dog, Kami from Romania.