Now and then it is good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

—Guillaume Apollinaire

Key Points:

• Being inactive is an independent risk factor for vascular disease, just as much as exercise.
• Breaks include short breaks during periods of inactivity, as well as vacations and time you spend just for you.
• Vacations can be helpful, but if you are dreading the workload waiting for you on your return or you return to stressful conditions, the effects are not lasting.

Why Take Breaks? The Hazards of Being Inactive

Clinicians have known for some time that being inactive is unhealthy.¹ It is a risk factor for many negative health outcomes, including metabolic syndrome, impaired fasting glucose and type 2 diabetes, lipid abnormalities, and some cancers.² More surprisingly, perhaps, it is an additional risk factor for heart disease, separate from physical activity. In other words, not exercising and being sedentary both contribute separately to the risk of heart disease.³ Fortunately, this risk decreases when people routinely interrupt inactive time with movement breaks.⁴ In addition to lowering overall cardiac risk, frequent movement breaks also decrease waist circumference and lower two-hour plasma glucose. Remember, even if a person has impaired mobility, moving in whatever way they are able to is helpful.

Other benefits of breaks include the following:

• Reducing stress
• Decreasing burnout
• Enhancing productivity
• Improving ability to focus
• Preventing ergonomics-related health problems (“Improving Work Surroundings through Ergonomics” has additional information.)