"Give me a break!" A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of micro-breaks for increasing well-being and performance
Patricia Albulescu · Irina Macsinga · Andrei Rusu · Coralia Sulea · Alexandra Bodnaru · Bogdan Tudor Tulbure
PLOS ONE · 2022
What the research tells us
Micro-breaks produced small average improvements in vigor and fatigue. The pooled effect on overall performance was not statistically significant, so feeling better and performing better should be reported separately.
What to keep in mind
Tasks, break activities and measures varied. The review cannot identify one best break schedule or establish long-term changes in allostatic load.
Study at a glance
- POPULATION & SAMPLE
- 19 records yielding 22 independent samples (2,335 participants); outcome-specific samples differ.
- EXPOSURE / INTERVENTION / SUBJECT
- Breaks of up to ten minutes in experimental and quasi-experimental studies.
- OUTCOMES
- Vigor, fatigue and performance analyzed separately. The overall performance analysis used 15 samples and 1,132 participants.
- TIME FRAME
- Short-term break outcomes in literature searched through April 2021; no common long-term follow-up.
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Scope of this reading note
Based on the publication’s text, including Abstract, Results, limitations and funding/competing-interest statements. This reading note has not undergone independent scientific review.
- STUDY FUNDING
- Andrei Rusu reported support from the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, CNCS–UEFISCDI, project PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-2032.
- STUDY CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
- The authors declared no competing interests.
Project support
Founded and supported by Resilio.
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