Micro Breaks

Individuals often spend the workday shifting between a series of discrete events. Break periods are beneficial when used to transition between work-related events, as they can mitigate the negative effects of sustained arousal on energy-based resources. Sustained arousal without sufficient recovery has been associated with negative short-term outcomes, which include impaired cognitive processing speed; reduced psychomotor ability; and musculoskeletal pain and long-term effects, including the development of chronic health disorders. One type of break period that has shown to benefit the workforce is micro breaks. Research on micro breaks is limited, though to date, the topic has received attention predominantly in the ergonomic and organizational psychology disciplines.