Take a Power Break

Take a Power Break

I had the pleasure recently of getting a professional massage.  Every time I get one I ask myself why I don’t do it more often.  As I talked with the massage therapist about the challenges her clients bring to the massage table she told me she regularly advises them to stretch daily.  “Just a few minutes spent stretching can save them a great deal of pain and expense getting other types of treatment and therapy,” she explained.  And more often than not, they respond with “I don’t have time to stretch.” 

What!? It is almost laughable that someone actually says, let alone believes, they don’t have time to stretch, as if that simple act takes up hours of valuable, productive time.  Unlike a massage, which does involve a block of time and outlay of cash, her advice to stretch costs nothing but a few minutes a day.  We all manage to go to the bathroom several times a day.   Most of us make time to brush our teeth or bathe daily.  And we all know, even the busiest person takes time to read an unimportant email or visit a social networking site once or twice a day for a few minutes.  In the time it takes to do any one of those simple routine activities we can “indulge ourselves” in a “power break.” 

Power breaks are simply short, otherwise wasted or misused moments of time, dedicated to doing something to improve your health, energy or vitality. Here are 10 power break activities to build into your day to support you in living a longer, healthier, less stressed, more productive, more energized and happier life. And start by reminding yourself, “I DO have the time for what’s truly important!” 

1)      First and foremost put yourself at the top of your “to do” list.  Doing for everyone else and putting everything else ahead of your own health and well-being is not only foolish but it’s selfish.  How can we truly give to others what we don’t give to ourselves?  It simply doesn’t make sense.  If you really love your work, friends or family then taking care of yourself is the BEST way to insure you’re able to give them your best consistently. 

2)      Consider these words I read recently: “Our lives consist of four rooms:  physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.  We need to spend time in each daily to live a happy, balanced life.”  It doesn’t mean we need to spend exactly equal amounts or huge blocks of time in each area; just a few minutes in each is powerful.

3)      Build your schedule around 90-minute blocks.  According to Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, authors of The Power of Full Engagement, in order to stay fully engaged and productive, we need to break every 90-120 minutes to accommodate a natural dip in our energy level that occurs at that frequency.  We’re not talking 15-minute coffee and bagel breaks here.  We’re talking “power breaks” of 1-2 minutes where you reset your energy meter in some way.  As you finish reading this, stand up, raise your hands over your head.  Hold them there for a few seconds, take some long, strong inhalations and slow, complete exhalations.  Now sit down and drop forward in your chair from the waist and allow your arms and head to hang down loosely for a 10-15 seconds.  Come back up slowly and take a few more long, deep inhalations and exhalations.  Ahhhhhhh.  Doesn’t that feel great?  That’s a power break!

4)      Close your eyes for one minute and imagine yourself in a place of relaxation and peace—on a beach, in the mountains, soaring high overhead in a hot-air balloon.  Research shows that this simple technique gives your brain time to process information more effectively.

5)      Spend a few minutes listening to light classical music.  You don’t have to be a classical aficionado, just tune in for a few minutes to a Mozart concerto or Bach piece.  Again, brain research shows that classical music “lights up” a part of your brain that actually allows for mental relaxation, clarity and focus.  This is great when you have too many open “mental files” (often a result of multi-tasking).  Other types of music—soft jazz for example—may work as well, but beautiful music in general is a great way to take a “power break.”

6)      When you have the time (approximately 15 minutes) take a “power nap”.  No two-hour snooze-fests, just a brief nap in your office with the door closed is sufficient to recharge your physical, mental and emotional batteries.

7)      Learn to meditate or use a centering word for 1-2 minutes.  The biggest objection I hear to meditation is the time recommendations of 20 minutes or more.  In reading and practicing various meditation techniques, I’ve learned it’s generally more effective to do five minutes a day, seven days a week than it is to do 20 minutes once a week. 

8)      Take a 3-5 minute power walk.  Again, all the research on energy management suggests that short power walks wake us up, reduce stress and tension, improve focus and concentration and count toward the larger goal of 30-45 minutes of exercise daily.

9)      Stop to drink a glass of water every hour or 90 minutes.  Water not only flushes toxins, it has been shown to reduce hunger cravings and re-hydrates the body.  While you’re at it, this is a great time to take those nutritional supplements.  Set them out where you’ll see them during one of your water power breaks. 

10)  Breathe deeply for one minute.   Not only do you always have time for this, you absolutely cannot live without oxygen.  Yet many of us become fatigued, stressed and our muscles contract because we’re getting insufficient oxygen. We spend hours hunched over a computer with our lungs collapsed, breathing shallowly.  To counter that, simply take a minute: breathe in to a count of four, hold for a count of two and exhale for at least a count of four, longer if you can.  Repeat several times.  That simple activity which can be done anytime, anywhere (how about when waiting at stop lights or standing in line at the grocery store?) can do more to restore your energy and tame your frazzled nerves than almost anything else. 

In the end, it isn’t about cramming more into your already over-filled schedule.  It’s about making the time to tend to the #1 goal every one of us needs to have—living a life that is full, abundant and healthy.  We can’t do that if we refuse to care for this one and only body, mind and spirit.  And if we can’t do it for ourselves, then how can we possibly make the contributions we so want to make to our families, communities, employers and the world?  

We all get the same amount of time in a day.  What we do with it is a quite simply a choice born of habit. Do you have one minute now?  Then take a “power break” and start creating some healthy habits one minute at a time. 

Have a powerful, positive and productive week.