Extra screen breaks are healthy and productive

Extra screen breaks are healthy and productive

More frequent breaks from screen-based work reduce fatigue and increase productivity, US government researchers have found. A team from the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reached this conclusion after observing a group of 51 data entry clerks. All the workers spent four weeks with 'conventional' breaks - two 15 minute breaks per day - and 4 weeks with an extra four 5 minute breaks per day. Results showed eyestrain and discomfort were significantly reduced by the supplementary breaks. Reporting last month in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, the researchers wrote: 'Data-entry speed was significantly faster with supplementary breaks so that work output was maintained, despite replacing 20 min of work time with break time.' They concluded: 'These results provide further converging evidence that supplementary breaks reliably minimise discomfort and eyestrain without impairing productivity.' NIOSH researchers in 2002 linked repetitive work in a wide range of manual jobs to arthritis of the hands and wrist (Risks 79).

• Traci Galinsky and others. Supplementary breaks and stretching exercises for data entry operators: A follow-up field study, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, volume 50, issue 7, pages 519-527, 2007 [abstract].