Sitting all day at the office desk can take a toll on your body, which is why it is very important to take breaks at work. In fact, work breaks boosts productivity in the office or any workplace.
While this sounds like a simple task, how do you remember to take your work break when you are mentally deep in a project? This is where an app can be helpful.
Here are three apps that will help you be more productive and mentally sharp by giving you regular work break reminders:
1. Stretchly
This app will change how you use your office computer. You can schedule both micro-breaks and longer breaks.
Install this app on your computer, and a small window will pop up when you have a break approaching. Then another window will pop up when it is time to take a work break. If you must, you can skip your break, and it will remind you of the next one.
Micro-breaks are every ten minutes for twenty seconds. The longer break option is every 30 minutes for five minutes. If these default times don’t work for you, then you can customize the lengths.
2. Eye Care 20 20 20
This is a mobile app that is meant to give your eyes a break from staring into screens all day. About 80% of Americans use their digital devices for more than two hours a day. This results in about a third of American workers experiencing at least one of the symptoms of digital eye strain.
This app helps you use a time-tested technique for giving your eyes a break. Every twenty minutes, you should look at something twenty feet away for twenty seconds.
This is a simple functioning app that reminds you to look up
and away every twenty minutes. The customization of the functions focuses more
on when you want your notifications, such as only during work hours.
Couple this app with an office ergonomics gadget, such as computer glasses.
Read more about computer
glasses on our ergonomics blog.
3. Unhook
The other apps on this list give you a notification and suggest that you take a break, but that isn’t useful if you ignore the suggestion. If you fall into this type of user, then you need Unhook.
This app forces you to take a work break. During setup, you give yourself a daily time limit for different types of screen usage. Then when you hit that time, you must walk to earn more usage time. For every 100 steps you take, you earn ten minutes of usage time.
If you really need to override the app, you can. There is the option of turning Unhook off and continuing your free usage. Be sparing with this as it defeats the purpose of having the app.
In
conclusion, prioritize your work breaks.
It can be tempting to skip your office work breaks when you
have a lot of work to get done. However, this will ultimately hurt you. With
regular breaks, you give your brain and body time to recharge and refocus,
while boosting
your work productivity.
Give yourself a break reminder with these useful apps. That way, you can focus on work and not on the clock.
Taking regular work breaks isn’t the only thing you can do to be more productive at work; check out our extensive ergonomics blog for more ergonomics consultant tips that will keep your office running efficiently and safely. For more guidance on all work related health and safety issues, visit SolutionsNW.com or Contact Us for ergonomics guidance. Subscribe to our ergonomics blog for more ergonomics tips from Solutions Northwest Inc., ergonomics consultants located in Washington State: Seattle, WA, Tacoma, WA, Olympia, WA, Vancouver, WA, Kent, WA Renton, WA, Oregon State: Beaverton, OR, Portland, OR, Salem, OR, Southern California: San Diego, California, Carlsbad, CA, La Jolla, CA, Irvine, CA, Costa Mesa, CA, and Newport Beach, CA.
