While most employees who were part of the study worked through the morning, pausing for breaks at lunch and maybe once again in the afternoon, the researchers found that the later in the day that people took breaks, the more likely they were to report poor focus, fatigue and headaches. Keep them relatively short, and take them often. Here are the three best ways to maximize your workday break: 
 
 Take your first one in the morning. These early breaks were more effective in replenishing cognitive resources like energy, focus and motivation. In a new study, researchers from Baylor University found, our health, productivity and job satisfaction can suffer when we don't make good use of the time we take to step away from work-related activities. For the study, researchers asked 95 employees to record all the breaks they took over the course of a workweek, which added up to a total of 959 breaks, or an average of two breaks per person each day. "We took some of our layperson hypotheses about what we believed were helpful in a break and tested those empirically in the best way possible," Dr. Emily Hunter, one of the study's authors, said in a statement. "What we found was that a better workday break was not composed of many of the things we believed. " The best time to take a break is actually mid-morning, before feelings of depletion set in. These breaks consisted of any period of time during which employees disengaged from work-related tasks, from an hour-long lunch with coworkers to a few minutes spent checking personal email -- they did not, however, include bathroom breaks. Taking more frequent, shorter breaks seemed to be more effective in boosting productivity and warding off fatigue than taking fewer, longer breaks. While the researchers weren't able to determine the optimum length of time for a work break, other research has suggested that as little as five minutes can increase energy levels and productivity. "Unlike your cellphone, which popular wisdom tells us should be depleted to zero percent before you charge it fully to 100 percent, people instead need to charge more frequently throughout the day," Hunter said.
– Did you just get caught taking a few minutes to update your fantasy football team or Instagram your lunch? Just tell your boss it's making you a better worker. Two researchers from Baylor University recently published a study after looking at the break habits of 95 workers to identify a better break. "What we found was that a better workday break was not composed of many of the things we believed," researcher Emily Hunter says in a press release. For example, it turns out, midmorning—not afternoon—is the best time for a break. "You should pace yourself, similar to how plants should be watered early in the day before getting distressed from a long day in the sun," Hunter tells the Huffington Post. Second, don't use the time to run errands. Breaks should be composed of an activity you enjoy—even, counterintuitively, if it's work-related. (Like some kind of "passion project," in the words of HuffPo.) Finally, the researchers found frequent, smaller breaks are ideal over a singular, longer break. "Unlike your cellphone, which popular wisdom tells us should be depleted to 0% before you charge it fully to 100%, people instead need to charge more frequently throughout the day," Hunter says. While they didn't identify an ideal break length, the Huffington Post reports previous studies have shown as little as five minutes away from work can improve productivity. By following their advice for better breaks, researchers say employees will experience less mental and physical burnout. (Others say a lunchtime walk will cure your work woes.)