Taking breaks throughout the day to practice contemplative prayer or to pray the hours isn’t just beneficial for your soul, it can provide a period of rest and relief in the midst of our days so that we’re more focused and less stressed for our work, family, or daily tasks.
While this article from 99u focuses on work productivity, take note of the findings from the various studies on the types of breaks that are most beneficial throughout the day. Routine pauses for prayer may feel difficult to squeeze in, but the truth is that we’ll most likely do our work better if we take more breaks throughout the day.
Are you too busy to pray? It turns out that you may actually get less done any way if you don’t take frequent breaks.
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“Only relaxation and social break activities had any benefit. Cognitive activities during work breaks actually made fatigue worse, likely because reading websites or checking emails taxes many of the same mental processes that we use when we’re working.”
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“If you deprive yourself of many breaks, when you do finally take one, it’s going to be need to be longer to have any beneficial effect. A related detail from this study was that if you take frequent breaks, then they don’t need to be as long to be beneficial – a couple of minutes might be enough.”
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“If you can get outside, even if it’s just a five minute walk around the block, you potentially – depending on where you’re located – also get to benefit from a rejuvenating dose of nature. Countless studies have shown how a green environment gives us a mental recharge…”
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