Law #3: Avoid the Financial Costs of Not Taking Sufficient Breaks
The Law
Taking breaks is vital to your health, productivity, and livelihood. Failing to take sufficient breaks can cost you tremendous amounts of energy, well-being, and money. Learn the types of breaks your body needs, when to take them, and how to make sure the people in your life respect those choices.
Your Keys to Power
First, here are the types of breaks we’re focusing on in this issue:
Break from work. This includes everything from your everyday pause through the work day, to staycations and long weekends, to vacations. Most jobs grant periodic breaks throughout the day at specified times, while some don't dictate breaks as a requirement and leave it up to their employees to come and go as they please. Whether you're in a position that prescribes your daily break times or one that gives you more freedom, these breaks are essential, as are extended leaves like staycations and vacations.
Breaks from technologies and routines. You control this kind of break with nothing more than deciding to walk away from technology for a while. That may be a specific hour of the day, a segment of the day, a day of the week, etc. Certainly, put down those devices when you're in bed and getting ready to rest. But a growing body of research suggests that taking regular, periodic breaks from technology has meaningful impacts on humans.
Break from family responsibilities. Whether it's raising children, spouse duties, or when you're serving as a caregiver to someone who is permanently or temporarily disabled or elderly, taking a break from those responsibilities from time to time is essential. We know this can trigger feelings of guilt, and shame can creep in and make you feel like you shouldn't be taking those breaks, but understand that taking a break sometimes helps others just as much as it helps you.
And now financial impacts of not taking these kinds of breaks:
The overwhelming cost of not taking sufficient breaks in these 3 ways throughout your life stems from living too much of your life under stress.
Stress is our body’s response to pressure. It may be triggered when we experience new things, face threats to our sense of self, or have limited or no control over a situation. While many different problems and life events can lead to stress, a sure way to end up stressed the hell out is to keep going and going and going without taking breaks.
You may think that #1 and #3 above make sense—it’s easy to see how they tie to stress—but does overuse of technology indeed lead to stress? This article offers a great, if daunting, explanation of the stress-inducing impact of ever-present technology in our lives. Here are the highlights:
Nomophobia—a fear of being disconnected from your phone
Texting and messaging anxiety—over-obsessing about small details like how long it took someone to respond to you
Constant self-critiquing against others’ experiences—also known as social comparison
Pressure to engage in activities like games, dating apps, and group text chains
Each of us deals with stress differently. Our ability to cope depends on several factors, including personality traits, social circumstances, economic factors, and even genetics and events that happened in our early lives.
One of the vital biological responses of our bodies to stress is the production of stress hormones that trigger a fight or flight response and activates our immune system. When we need that activation, these responses help us respond quickly and efficiently to dangerous situations. But living in near-constant stress-induced fight or flight is not suitable for any part of your body.
Stemming from the impact of stress on our bodies, here are some actual costs that we end up footing the bill for when we remain under the pressure of stress by not taking sufficient breaks.
Cost #1: Mental health. One of the highest costs to you from prolonged stress from not taking sufficient breaks will come against your mental health. Deep mental health battles suck your energy, reduce your drive, reduce your sex drive, harm relationships, impact your career, and sometimes lead to suicide. All of the issues we just listed could affect your ability to earn, save, and make quality decisions in partnerships. These consequences have a direct impact on your wallet.
Cost #2: Physical health. Troublesome physiological conditions also result from the harsh impact of escalated, prolonged stress and anxiety:
Sleep disturbances (like insomnia and sleepwalking) lead to lower productivity, higher mortality, and mental health problems.
Teeth grinding leads to costly teeth repair expenses and procedures to correct jaw disorders and the impact of gum recession.
High blood pressure carries tremendously higher medical care costs.
Chronic illnesses (like heart disease, diabetes, depression, etc.) are conditions that impact your life and can lead to serious, high-cost medical problems that, in turn, may lead to even more financial worry and instability. If these conditions cause financial stress, that stress is also linked to lower employee productivity and engagement at work.
Check out this resource for details about the many more impacts of stress on your physical health.
Cost #3: Productivity. Reduced productivity hits you directly in your bank account, especially if you’re a business owner. If you work for yourself in a business or earn money actively through the gig economy, showing up without being present means you’re not bringing your total energy to the money-making task. While you may continue going and going thinking that taking a break will lose money, you have to decide if showing up refreshed after taking a small break would lead to greater productivity than burning yourself out. The same applies if you’re a W-2 earner. If you’re working at a company, your productivity could be the thing that keeps your job or causes you to lose it. If you're part of a team, commission-based, or receive part of your earnings as a bonus, you owe it to yourself and your team to take the breaks you need to show up refreshed. Keep it within reason, but being restored has its benefits.
Cost #4: Injuries and pains. Working yourself to burnout could prevent you from reaching your full retirement age, increase medical costs due to the early onset of mobility issues, and increase your risk of on-the-job injuries. These injuries are more prevalent with jobs that require physical labor like twisting, bending, lifting, and carrying heavy items, but desk job injuries also result from constant sitting and poor posture. With or without insurance, your medical costs increase, and your opportunity to invest in your retirement may decrease if your working years reduce due to injuries or pain.
Cost #4: An impact on your brain. This article references 14 scientific studies that suggest continued stress can lead to changes in your brain’s structure, the death of brain cells, brain shrinkage, and reduced memory capacity. As we all know, your brain controls everything your body can do. It is the organ that you absolutely must have in working order for your entire life that cannot, as yet, be replaced by transplantation. Anything that harms your brain gives you perhaps the highest cost you’ll ever experience—a reduction in the capacity of the most vital organ in your body. Anything that slows your brain impacts your bank account negatively.
Cost #5: Impact on weight control. Taking breaks keep you lively. Dealing with extreme stress and anxiety can lead to impulsive eating and reduced energy for exercise and movement, resulting in undesired weight gain and a host of issues that can come from the undesired weight. Gaining weight you don’t want to gain hits your pocketbook through clothing, extra food, and potentially increased medical expenses if the unwanted weight gain leads to mental health or physiological issues.
Practical Application
Be honest with yourself. If you need a break, you’re probably the first to know about it. Be honest with yourself, and don’t rely on others to identify when you need to take a break. If others are coming to you suggesting that you take one, you’ve probably already pushed yourself too far, and now the shortcomings from not taking a break when you needed it are starting to spill over and become a strain on you and your outward appearance. That’s not good.
Be honest with others. You want the people in your life who will understand and respect your needs. If your needs are reasonable, reasonable people should be able to get on board with them. Be honest with coworkers, bosses, partners, family, and friends about what you need and expect from the breaks you want to take, and then allow them to be supportive.
Be mindful and respectful of others. Just as you want people to respect your breaks, respect the impact of your breaks on others. Your break to relieve stress and anxiety should not cause stress and anxiety for others. Don't put your needs so high above others that you forget your decisions impact them. For instance, if you are part of a team and you know your break is coming, get your tasks done in advance so that people aren't waiting on you at the eleventh hour or, even worse, failing at their responsibilities because you didn't turn in something that their work depends on. No one wants to be around or work with that kind of person. You'll seem spoiled, selfish, and bratty, and it's never cute. What's worse (for you) is that you may let the cat out of the bag about how self-centered you are, and you don't want to encounter the harsh reactions you'll realize over time if that's how people start to interpret your behavior. Take those breaks, but be responsible and accountable.
Figure out your cadence. While life has ups and downs, and things don’t always go as planned, you’ll realize the break cadence you need to bring your best if you pay attention to your mind and body. Plan out that perfect blend if you need strategically placed breaks throughout the day, week, month, quarter, year, etc. When you enter into something knowing what you need and let people know that upfront, you'll sound like someone who knows yourself, which people will respect or reject right away. That's good for everyone.
Plan ahead. No one likes a last-minute fiasco. The responsibility lies with each of us to be accountable for our needs, figure out our triggers, and prepare ourselves and those around us. Plan your breaks so everyone who relies on you can also plan for your absence.
Learn your triggers. This resource helps you to learn to identify stress triggers. If you feel a stress trigger coming on, start laying the foundation right away to take the break you need.
Don’t compare and don’t copy. Your needs surrounding stress, anxiety, and taking breaks is deeply personal. Don’t compare yourself to others; don’t try to copy someone you think is happy. Taking a yearly four-week vacation to Grand Cayman might sound great, but if that’s not within your ability, it will lead to more stress and anxiety when you realize you can’t take that kind of break. Focus on your needs and resources, and go for what you can comfortably bring to your life. Think deeply about your life, needs, and wants, and plan your break strategy around you and the people directly involved in your life whom it will impact.
Put a number on it. We look at the impact of not taking breaks as lost economic value. Sometimes, our minds work best when we place a value on something. While taking breaks is invaluable, not taking them has direct costs. If you know that not taking breaks can lead to increased medical costs to the tune of several tens of thousands of dollars, or that not taking enough time to rejuvenate your mind and body can cut five or more years off of your working life and what that means for your retirement savings, that may spark the fire that you need to give your body the time it needs for quality breaks.
Authority
“Let’s loosen up some time and take a break to re-calibrate our life. We need no endless over-thinking, though. Let’s just connect the dots, set the scene, and steam ahead." - Erik Pevernagie
“Try to pause each day and take a walk to view nature.” - Lailah Gifty Akita
“Do something nice for yourself today. Find some quiet, sit in stillness, breathe. Put your problems on pause. You deserve a break.” - Akiroq Brost
“Taking a break can lead to breakthroughs.” - Russell Eric Dobda
“Is there a place you can go to break away for a little while? If you haven't yet built your tree house, it's never too late to start.” - Gina Greenlee
“When things are not happening as planned just stop worrying and take an unplanned break to regain yourself.” - Giridhar Alwar
“In this game, everyone needs a break to refuel, recharge, and jump back in full throttle.” - Helen Edwards
“Sometimes doing nothing makes way for everything.” - Hiral Nagda
“Research shows that we need to take a break and decompress so we can be at our best at work—and at home. Maybe we should ask if the life we’re working so hard to create is fun to live? When’s the last time you disconnected and took a vacation?” - Tina Hallis
Our Vote
Confession: I work a lot. I always have. Likely, I always will. But I love it. That level of work ethic has allowed me the current-day freedom to take breaks as often as I want to. Sure, I put in my time grinding and burning the candle at both ends, but it’s led me to a point where I now have choices. We all have different journeys, but that was mine, and I'm thankful for my experiences. These days, I take a fair amount of breaks throughout the day, sometimes to go on an impromptu walk around my neighborhood. On a busy day, I'll sneak a conference call in on one of those neighborhood strolls. Give me that kind of multitasking any day!
I also enjoy a healthy obsession with mini getaways from time to time, particularly when I can coordinate them with my family or other people I enjoy. I believe in a good vacation, one of those two- to four-week ones, once or twice a year. I’m not the type to completely disconnect and do nothing but soak up the tropical sun on a gorgeous beach when I’m on vacation. My brain still needs that daily connection to information, but not at the same level as when I’m in the office.
My biggest struggle, for now, is building in sufficient breaks from technology. I mean, it’s everywhere! In one office, I have three computers, an iPad, a cellphone, an Apple Watch, an Apple TV, and a whole host of internet-connected devices that are listening at any given moment for me to speak a command. It’s hard to disconnect. But I’m working on that, and I plan to master being more comfortable leaving tech behind from time to time so that I can just be with myself and nature. I’m a work in progress on this, but researching this issue, talking to brilliant experts, and reading an incredible body of research to write this piece helped me understand the need for that kind of break even more.
Reversal
There is no reversal to this law. Whatever your circumstance, find a way to take breaks, even if it's just five minutes to sit and think to start.