How just a 10-minute work break could improve your mental and physical health

Taking a walk. Reading a book. Sitting outside. Simply standing up and stretching.  

These are all activities we could be doing on a break during our workday, according to experts. 

"There's not one golden rule of what the best break is. We just want to make sure that we're disconnecting from our work or from our study," Katharine Coons, from the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC's The Dose.  

"Even if it's for a five-minute walk around the block, that can increase and boost your mood," said Coons, a national senior manager with the CMHA who oversees the organization's workplace mental health programs. 

In a culture that can often prioritize productivity over mental well-being, it can sometimes be difficult for people to take breaks  — but experts say a break, if done right, is key to staying happy and healthy at work. 

The degree to which a break can help depends on a few factors, said Duygu Biricik Gülseren, assistant professor at the School of Human Resources Management at York University. 

Gülseren was part of a team that released a systematic review in 2022 on how work breaks affect job performance and well-being. 

"It is important to know that not all work breaks are equal," said Gülseren. 

In the review, Gülseren and her team found that how you experience your break can be just as important as what you're doing or for how long. 

Your experience of the break could mean "if you're able to detach from work, if you are able to relax," said Gülseren.

Taking more frequent breaks throughout the day is more effective for our well-being than one long one, said Coons. 

"Every hour to an hour and a half, we really need that 10 or 15-minute break," she said. 

Most important, she said, is to do something that's distinct from our work tasks. 

This could be something relaxing — meditating, stretching, reading a book, watching TV — or something that recharges us — exercising, talking to a colleague, or doing chores if you work from home.