Give me a better break: Choosing workday break activities to maximize resource recovery.
Abstract
Surprisingly little research investigates employee breaks at work, and even less research provides prescriptive suggestions for better workday breaks in terms of when, where, and how break activities are most beneficial. Based on the effort-recovery model and using experience sampling methodology, we examined the characteristics of employee workday breaks with 95 employees across 5 workdays. In addition, we examined resources as a mediator between break characteristics and well-being. Multilevel analysis results indicated that activities that were preferred and earlier in the work shift related to more resource recovery following the break. We also found that resources mediated the influence of preferred break activities and time of break on health symptoms and that resource recovery benefited person-level outcomes of emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behavior. Finally, break length interacted with the number of breaks per day such that longer breaks and frequent short breaks were associated with more resources than infrequent short breaks.
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When compensatory mechanisms fail, classroom physical activity breaks can serve as an active recovery strategy by shifting the task mode from sedentary cognition to light physical activity, thereby mitigating fatigue accumulation, enhancing academic performance, and promoting knowledge retention.
“When compensatory mechanisms fail, classroom physical activity breaks can serve as an active recovery strategy by shifting the task mode from sedentary cognition to light physical activity, thereby mitigating fatigue accumulation, enhancing academic performance, and promoting knowledge retention [17, 53].”
From Effect of classroom physical activity breaks on learning behaviors and academic achievements in university students: a systematic review (2026) · cites this paper as [53]
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“…mechanisms fail, classroom physical activity breaks can serve as an active recovery strategy by shifting the task mode from sedentary cognition to light physical activity, thereby mitigating fatigue accumulation, enhancing academic performance, and promoting knowledge retention [17, 53].”
Self-citation
- Authors
- Hunter, E. M., & Wu, C.
- Affiliations
- Baylor University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Psychology
- Published
- 2016
- Volume
- 101
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 302-311
- ISSN
- 0021-9010 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1854
- OpenAlex
- W2414668644
- Cited by
- 287
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 41
- FWCI
- 56.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Workaholism, burnout, and well-being
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Keywords
- resource recovery, effort-recovery model, employee well-being, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, health symptoms
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Employment, Fatigue, Humans, Job Satisfaction, Middle Aged, Work Schedule Tolerance, Organizational Culture, Occupational Health, Young Adult
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