Working from home (WFH) has become the new normal for more than eight million people in the UK and it has required a notable shift in habits and routines. Whether you are an advocate of the Pomodoro Technique, where 25-minute bursts of work are followed by five minutes of downtime or prefer longer mid-morning and afternoon intervals, taking breaks is very important.
However, rather than scrolling through your social media feeds for 15 minutes, you can instead focus on tasks that are still productive in some way, whether that’s for boosting your brain or increasing your energy. Here are five things you can do to make the most of your break time, and those shorter periods of procrastination during the day.
Wordle and Nerdle
One game that has been hugely popular this year is Wordle, a web-based word challenge that requires players to guess a five-letter word in six tries. Free of distractions like advertising and other flashy features, Wordle has become an online phenomenon due to its simplicity and sharing feature, which allows players to publish results across the web. A new math-based game called Nerdle is an alternative for those that prefer numbers. Both games are good for cognitive health according to Dr Douglas Scharre.
Stretches and chores
Working at a desk during the day can be detrimental to your posture and physicality in general. To counteract the problems of hunching, you could use short breaks to run through a quick stretching routine that will make you feel more nimble and better prepared to take on your work tasks when you return. You can also use breaks to complete some of the chores that would otherwise take up your free time after work, such as preparing meals or cleaning.
Online games
Gaming is also beneficial as it supports the development of problem-solving skills, stimulates the brain and acts as a form of escapism during those more challenging workdays. It is also a perfect time to take advantage of the many offers available for online betting in the UK. You can get free deposits, bets, and sign-up bonuses by claiming the latest offers at a leading comparison site. But remember gambling of any kind can be addictive. Set a limit on what you are prepared to spend and never go beyond it. That way you can keep it fun and hopefully make some wins. You could also use a short break to play a new RPG or puzzle game on a Nintendo Switch or other gaming console.
Optimise email accounts
This is not something you’d probably do out of work, but you could use some downtime to give your professional and personal inboxes a long overdue spring clean. That means unsubscribing from newsletters that you no longer read and getting rid of any promotional or spam emails that are just cluttering your accounts. Organising the files on your desktop by renaming them and putting them in new, easier to identify folders will also make general tasks easier.
Career build
Not all social media has to be distracting. You can also use little breaks to increase your outreach and influence in online workspaces by updating your LinkedIn profile, and any other social accounts that you use to engage with clients and other workers. You could even give your CV an overhaul if you are considering applying for a new job in the future.