The number of breaks a person takes affects that person’s performance. Thus, taking breaks is a “human factor”. But whether or not to initiate a break is also behavior that we can analyze from a human factors perspective. For example, most people know that it is good to take regular breaks, but don’t always do it. Meetings also often run long with few breaks.
Why does this happen? Why do we sometimes take too few breaks? And from a human factors perspective, what factors influence our tendency to take or ask for (too few) breaks?
Why we sometimes don’t take enough breaks
There are many factors that affect taking a break. If we look specifically at not taking enough breaks, the following factors, among others, affect it:
1. Not realizing you need a break
Have you ever thought halfway through an active meeting that you didn’t need a break? And at the end of the same meeting suddenly felt that the meeting had actually made you quite tired?
It is especially difficult during active meetings to notice what is going on in your body and brain. On the one hand, physical and mental fatigue can build up slowly and therefore be difficult to notice. At the same time, meetings can require a lot of attention and mental energy. Because your attention is focused externally, internal signals are less noticeable. Also, your brain may be more concerned with processing the external information, rather than the internal information. Hormones such as adrenaline can also suppress the signals of fatigue.
A person may thus “feel” that they don’t need a break even though a break would have been helpful. This happens most often to the people who are active in the meeting, such as the person giving a presentation or the person leading the meeting. The audience that is just listening is more likely to feel the need for a break.
2. Shutdown, startup and other break costs.
People find it especially difficult to take a break when they feel the task is not finished. Your own brain may fight the idea of stepping away from something before it is finished. When the pause interrupts a task, it can feel unpleasant at first. During meetings, people may find it difficult to take a break when a decision has not yet been made on a topic. Others may see finishing the entire agenda as a task and feel reluctant to take a break before the entire agenda is completed.
Other costs people may associate with taking a break:
- People may resent losing momentum and having to restart after the break.
- People may worry that taking breaks will leave them short of time.
- People may worry that their valuable ideas or thoughts will be lost if they take a break “now. This is especially prevalent in creative or problem-solving tasks and discussions.
- A person may think that taking a break will come at the expense of his or her reputation as a hard worker. It is also difficult to request a break during meetings if you think you are the only one who wants a break.
- People may worry that taking breaks will leave them short of time.
How to encourage taking breaks?
Especially during the pandemic, there was a lot of information about how important it is to take plenty of breaks. But knowing that something is good for you is not enough. The factors mentioned above are barriers to taking breaks. Good intention is not enough.
If you want your employees to take more breaks, it is important to lower the threshold. Which factors constitute the biggest thresholds depends on the type of meeting, the organization, the team dynamics and the individuals. Different strategies are possible to reduce the negative impact of different factors and lower the threshold for taking useful breaks.
Presentation about Human Factors and taking breaks?
