This morning I am sitting in a luxury hotel, in a fluffy bathrobe and slippers, overlooking San Francisco contemplating and researching the benefits of breaks. From this vantage point it isn’t difficult to see the benefits of having a break, but when I return home late tonight the effects will begin to fade.
Breaks, like the ones that require reservations and hundreds of miles between you and home are important, and I love them. But, perhaps more important are the breaks that require daily commitment and execution.
What follows is an article from Forbes citing current research on the effect of daily breaks. The author isn’t writing about wives and mothers, but I propose that the findings apply to business organizations as well as the family organization. After all, motherhood is the ultimate full-time job, with women in the role of Chief Operating Officer and often as Chief Executive Officer.
The only changes that have been made from the original article are replacing the words employee with mother, and workplace for home or family. Give it a read, and see if it doesn’t ring true for you too.
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Many American mothers strive to perform their best in the home. They work overtime, agree to take on extra projects and rarely take a step away from their family. In reality, this “work hard” mentality isn’t effective – and it’s definitely unhealthy.
Mothers who believe that they must work 24/7 have the wrong idea.
Chaining yourself to your home or scarfing down your lunch isn’t a recipe for success – it’s a recipe for disaster. Without taking adequate breaks from work, mother productivity, mental well-being and overall performance begin to suffer. Overworked mothers often deal with chronic stress that can easily lead to job burnout. While this not only negatively affects mother health and well-being, it negatively affects the family too.
This is why it’s important that mothers start encouraging each other to take breaks throughout the workday – especially lunch breaks. These breaks are essential in helping mothers de-stress and re-charge for the rest of the workday. Regular breaks can also help improve overall job satisfaction.
Regular breaks create better mothers.
There are many research-backed health, wellness and performance benefits of taking breaks. Here are just a few examples of the benefits of regular breaks.
Increased productivity.
While taking breaks might sound counterintuitive when it comes to boosting productivity, it’s one of the best ways to do so. Mothers gain focus and energy after stepping away from their homes. A lunch break can help prevent an unproductive, mid-afternoon slump.
Improved mental well-being.
Mothers need time to recharge. Stress is incredibly common in North American homes, and it has detrimental effects on mothers. Taking some time away from the home to go for a quick walk or enjoy a healthy lunch helps release some of their stress and improves mental well-being.
Creativity boost.
Taking a break can give mothers a fresh perspective on challenging projects. It’s hard for mothers to develop new ideas or solutions when they’ve been looking at the same thing all day. A lunch break will most certainly help get those creative juices flowing.
More time for healthy habits.
Regular breaks, including a lunch break, give mothers time to practice healthy habits in the home. They can use break times to make a healthy lunch, exercise, meditate, or engage in a self-care activity.
Besides these awesome benefits of regular breaks, the Tork survey also revealed that mothers who take a lunch break on a daily basis feel more valued by their family.
“The research shows that mothers who take a lunch break are more likely to be satisfied with their job, and say they are as effective and efficient as they would like to be. This is consistent with other research, which shows that taking breaks from home is important for recovery – and adequate recovery is critical for top performance. Energy isn’t unlimited and just as athletes have halftime to rest during a game, mothers need to rest so they can do their best work. Taking a break in the middle of the day for lunch is a recovery period, allowing mothers to come back refreshed and reinvigorated for the second half – as this research clearly shows.”
Families will benefit from mothers who take breaks.
While the act of encouraging breaks is a huge step in the right direction, it’s also important to ensure that these breaks are healthy. For example, mothers could potentially use break time for unhealthy habits such as getting fast good, smoking or scrolling through social media.
Spending break time practicing poor health habits won’t yield productivity and wellness benefits.
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The article goes on, but what I have included makes a compelling case: Take a break. Everyday. If you would like to read the original article in Forbes by Alan Kohll you can read it here.
Final Thoughts:
You are an integral part of your family organization. The magnitude of your responsibilities deserve to be treated with the same seriousness leaders give to their organizations. As a leader in your home, no one is going to REQUIRE you to take a break. You have to be brave and willing to do it for yourself.
Regular breaks create better mothers.
Believe it.
Try it.
