Mr. Leeser’s fifth grade was the pinnacle of my elementary school career.
Specifically because of recess.
Fifth-grade was all about kickball. The way I remember it, the kickball game was the most important 30 minutes of the entire fifth-grade day.
This was 1979, so unless it was pouring, we were going outside at recess, and there would be a kickball game. Dress appropriately.
The pre-game ritual started early in the day with trash-talking and anticipation of the impending contest.
The lunch table was filled with underhanded draft negotiations just prior to the recess bell’s merciful release.
When the recess bell rang, it unleashed us to bolt outside, line up against the brick wall, and rush through the anti-climactic choosing of the mostly pre-negotiated teams.
And then it started…
The result was a glorious full-circle arc of anticipation, physical release, and the thrill of victory marred only slightly by the occasional trip to the nurse’s office for band-aids or finger splints.
The ending recess bell delivered our cohort of sweaty boys and girls back to the classroom. Some euphoric with the win. Others dejected and passing around the blame of the loss.
We were all physically spent, yet mentally refreshed and ready to take on an afternoon of sitting in class and paying attention to the riveting lessons in language arts and the scientific method.
As it turns out, what’s good for readying a 5th grader for an afternoon of desk work is just as good at readying an adult for an afternoon of desk work.
Why You Need to Take a Lunch Break When Working From Home
Working from home, especially if it’s new for you, can present an almost paradoxical challenge to your productivity and energy. Especially in the afternoon.
Time works differently when working from home.
A healthy and productive integrated work and home life schedule does not look like a commute to the office schedule. Working in an office has natural breaks built into the day, even if your normal routine is to work through lunch (although you shouldn’t do that either).
Working from home can bend linear time into an amorphic blob.
Many days, you roll out of bed and right into work mode, and before you know it, it’s dark outside. You are often isolated from your team, and the household distractions that occur are counterproductive, rather than naturally rejuvenating.
The Science
How does recess as an adult fix this?
There is a pile of research, from both the psychology and physiology angles (some launch points here, here, here, and here) indicating that physical exercise, especially something that you look forward to, helps boost your mood, energy, cognition, and mental acuity.
These are the ingredients that keep you productive and happy during your workday.
Taking a recess is about taking an intentional break from your work to do something that you look forward to in order to boost or regain your energy and creativity for the afternoon. If you use that break time to do something physical, you magnify the benefits.
Some Anecdotal Evidence
I first discovered the benefits of an intentional and physical lunch break in my mid 30’s.
Around that time, I started working at night after the family went to bed. No longer was a 5:00 am workout going to win when pitted against an extra hour or 90 minutes of sleep.
To remain reasonably fit, I’d do something physical at lunch a couple of days during the week. Sometimes a gym workout, but also running, cycling, ice hockey, or even a nice outside walk around the office area.
A funny thing happened. I noticed that the days I had something planned were the days I looked forward to the most. They were also the days I had the most energy well into the evening.
Recess worked.
So I ramped it up from a couple of days per week to every day…or just about every day. Now I can’t (or won’t) go back. It just works too well.
When I started working from home, I purposefully kept the mid-day recess. And it still works just as good. In fact, it works even better because of the convenience of my own home and better control over my schedule.
Just Do It
What kind of break should you take?
The one that you take.
Anything that you like to do can be a helpful recess, but you will get the most benefit out of something physical and outside.
A 20-minute walk is great. A 5-mile run is great. Shooting hoops for 15 minutes in the driveway is great. Dead-lifting is great. Tilling or weeding the garden for a half-hour is great.
Get outside, get some fresh air. Maybe sweat a little…or a lot.
Feeling the benefits of recess, just like when you were in 5th grade doesn’t require something specific. It just requires that you do something you like so that you look forward to it and keep doing it.
And here’s one more suggestion for those of you whose schedule is stacked with one meeting after the other:
Start declining meetings over lunch. You have my permission.
When the recess bell rings, don’t miss it.
