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Short conversations that aren\u2019t work-related \u2013 so-called \u2018water cooler moments\u2019 \u2013 can be a welcome break from everyday office life. Now, a new meta-analysis published in the journal PLOS One, <\/em>has pulled together evidence to look at whether short microbreaks could help with workplace wellbeing<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scientists at Romania\u2019s West University of Timi\u0219oara (WUT) have examined data from 22 studies from the past 30 years to find out whether the type of activity a person engages in during a 10-minute microbreak can affect overall mood.<\/p>\n Tasks varied between the featured experiments, and included work simulations, actual work-related tasks or cognitive tests. After the tasks, the participants took a 10-minute microbreak, where they could enjoy activities like stretching, walking, watching videos, or just relaxing.<\/p>\n The microbreak sometimes involved activities like helping a colleague, or some other work-related task.<\/p>\n Read more about wellbeing:<\/strong><\/p>\n The researchers discovered that, when it came to assessing whether the break had a positive or negative effect on an individual\u2019s mood, the activity engaged in during the break was an important factor.<\/p>\n Participants found physical breaks to be particularly helpful. The authors noted that, \u201cphysical activities such as stretching and exercise were associated with increased positive emotions and decreased fatigue\u201d.<\/p>\n But if the microbreak activity involved helping a colleague or something else work-related, it led to negative emotions, decreased wellbeing and worse sleep quality.<\/p>\n Overall, the data appears to support the role of microbreaks for improving the wellbeing of workers and reducing fatigue, but there was insufficient evidence to suggest that microbreaks improve job performance.<\/p>\n With today\u2019s employees experiencing burnout, long hours and ever-increasing workloads, microbreaks could offer a way to improve happiness. So go on, get that kettle on!<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Neil McKim Published: Friday, 02 September 2022 at 12:00 am Short conversations that aren\u2019t work-related \u2013 so-called \u2018water cooler moments\u2019 \u2013 can be a welcome break from everyday office life. Now, a new meta-analysis published in the journal PLOS One, has pulled together evidence to look at whether short microbreaks could help with workplace […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":17063,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/09\/microbreaks-may-help-to-prevent-workplace-burnout.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/09\/microbreaks-may-help-to-prevent-workplace-burnout-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/09\/microbreaks-may-help-to-prevent-workplace-burnout-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/09\/microbreaks-may-help-to-prevent-workplace-burnout-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/09\/microbreaks-may-help-to-prevent-workplace-burnout-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/09\/microbreaks-may-help-to-prevent-workplace-burnout.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/09\/microbreaks-may-help-to-prevent-workplace-burnout.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Neil McKim Published: Friday, 02 September 2022 at 12:00 am Short conversations that aren\u2019t work-related \u2013 so-called \u2018water cooler moments\u2019 \u2013 can be a welcome break from everyday office life. Now, a new meta-analysis published in the journal PLOS One, has pulled together evidence to look at whether short microbreaks could help with workplace…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/17062"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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