You already know a quick break is good for you. Remembering to take one when you’re deep in your inbox or rushing between meetings is the hard part. That’s where one well-placed reminder helps.

What makes a useful microbreak

The aim is to change position and get moving, not to break a sweat. In the study above, light walking lowered blood sugar after a meal by about as much as brisker walking did. So gentle movement counts.

Three things matter most:

• Get up, or at least change position.
• Move for 30 seconds to a few minutes.
• Repeat it at regular points throughout your day.

You don’t need to match the video or do every movement perfectly. A short break you take beats a longer one you keep putting off.

Linking your reminder to something you already do

The most useful skill here is pairing your break with a moment that already happens in your day. Psychologists call this an “if-then plan”, and it follows a simple pattern. When this happens, I’ll do that.

It works well. A review of 94 studies found that people who made plans like this were much more likely to follow through on their goals than people who simply intended to.

Here are some examples:

• When I finish a video call, I’ll do a 30-second break.
• When I make my mid-morning coffee, I’ll walk while the kettle boils.
• When my 3pm reminder goes off, I’ll press play on my daily video.

Choose the moment that fits your day best. Linking to something you already do tends to stick better than a random alarm, though a fixed time works well if your days are predictable.

Building the habit

New habits take time to feel automatic. In one well-known study, people took around 66 days on average for a new daily habit to feel natural, but some got there in less than three weeks. The same study found that missing the odd day didn’t undo progress. What counts is coming back to it.

If your reminder goes off at a bad moment

This is the most common difficulty early on. The reminder pops up in the middle of a task, you dismiss it, and the break never happens.

Instead of skipping it, you could swap in a 30-second video from the library. It’s short enough to fit almost anywhere, and you can do it in your seat if you’re in the office. Or move your break to your next natural pause, like when you send the email or end the call, and do it then.

Your focus for next session

Pick one moment in your day and link your microbreak to it.

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