I was listening to Marcus Buckingham's book "The One Thing You Need to Know" while driving back from a meeting on Friday. It reminded me that the human mind needs breaks in order to allow us to recover from our efforts. I tend to sit down at the computer at work and, sometimes, only get up every three hours to go to the restroom. That is not good for me or the quality of my work.
There is a free program, WorkRave, that times how long you have been working at your computer and inserts a micro break or a rest break. You control how often they appear. You control how long they last. You control whether you can have a "snooze bar" and delay the break. During the breaks, WorkRave displays some exercises that you can do to loosen up your muscles. Buckingham suggests getting up and going for a walk. Either way, it is a good idea to take breaks regularly.
I have placed WorkRave back into my Startup folder so it will run automatically on my machine again. I don't remember why I removed it. I don't think it was because it crashed the system or anything. I would guess it was because I got sick of it telling me to take breaks. I promise to be nicer to it now.
