Why your brain hates the 8-hour workday


  • June 17, 2016
  • /   Shannon Nickinson
  • /   economy

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/en/student-typing-keyboard-text-woman-849825/.

Eight hours in a cube working on your computer — does that sound like paradise to you?

If you answered "no" you aren't alone, and, as Forbes reports, science is backing you up on that.

Contributor Travis Bradberry writes that a study by Draugiem Group used a computer application to track employees’ work habits.

What did they find?

The ideal work-to-break ratio was 52 minutes of work, followed by 17 minutes of rest. People who maintained this schedule had a unique level of focus in their work. For roughly an hour at a time, they were 100% dedicated to the task they needed to accomplish. They didn’t check Facebook FB +26.05% “real quick” or get distracted by emails. When they felt fatigue (again, after about an hour), they took short breaks, during which they completely separated themselves from their work. This helped them to dive back in refreshed for another productive hour of work.

People who have discovered this magic productivity ratio crush their competition because they tap into a fundamental need of the human mind: the brain naturally functions in spurts of high energy (roughly an hour) followed by spurts of low energy (15–20 minutes).

For most of us, this natural ebb and flow of energy leaves us wavering between focused periods of high energy followed by far less productive periods, when we tire and succumb to distractions.

If you can offer flexibility in the "work day hours," for your employees, not only might they thank you for it, this study indicates you might see increased productivity, which boosts your bottom line.

That's a win-win in any business.

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