I recently wrote a piece for the Association of Business Psychology on the link between taking breaks and burnout prevention – in this blog I want to share my insights and hopefully to give you even more evidence about how important taking breaks are for reducing our risk of burnout. Before you rush out and book your next break, have a read, because the length of break and what you do on that break can impact your wellbeing in different ways…
Let’s start by getting clear on the thing we are trying to avoid. Burnout shows up as a combination of overwhelming exhaustion, cynicism and detachment and a sense of ineffectiveness (Maslach et al, 2016). How this presents itself differs between individuals but often people report disrupted sleep, catching colds easily, being ‘snappy’ and irritable with people, having strong emotional reactions to small things (the final straw), neglecting self-care, spending less time with others, ruminating about worries or finding it hard to let things go, waking up feeling exhausted etc.
As individuals get close to burnout crisis point, they often report their minds either going incredibly quick (like all the plates you are spinning are going out of control) or on go-slow (like wading through mud). If you are feeling like you are living in ‘survival mode’, just trying to make it through the day/week/until a holiday then this is a good sign that you could be edging towards burnout.
Why using our leave wisely is so important
Before we get into how to use our leave, we first need to address the research which has shown that, in the UK, there are just over 5 unused leave days per employee (Timetastic). That’s an average whole working week of leave not being taken per person. In the same research, only half of the UK working population reported taking off a full week in the previous 12 months.
It might feel hard to take time off because of staff shortages or financial concerns, however, taking breaks, whether it’s a lunch break or a holiday are essential to maintaining our wellbeing and our performance. With overwhelming exhaustion being one of the three symptoms of burnout, we have to take time to recover from the stresses we face if we are going to avoid burnout. I encourage the people I work with to see how they often tell their teams to take breaks but then don’t role model it themselves, and how it is through taking breaks ourselves that we give permission for others to do it too.
Research by Grant et al (2025) found that, when workers take a holiday, their wellbeing remained elevated for an estimated 43 days after returning from their leave. Interestingly, longer holidays provided a a greater increase in wellbeing during the holiday itself, however, those who took longer holidays experienced a greater and faster fall in wellbeing once they returned to work than those who took a shorter break.
Additionally, so much of our emotional processing happens when we sleep so even just having a period of time when we are sleeping longer, and with less interruptions, can benefit our ability to process emotions and get perspective on our challenges. When we get good quality sleep, it supports increases in our resilience (McCuistion, 2016). This does mean that unfortunately we do need to think about how much alcohol we drink as this will impact the quality of our sleep!
What types of breaks work best?
Taking some time to reflect on what breaks work best for you is a really good investment of your time. Often recovery time at home looks like crashing in front on the TV with a glass of wine, which at the time feels like only thing we have the capacity to do, but on reflection, doesn’t replenish us as much as a yoga class, walking the dog or catching up with a friend.
There is definitely a case for resting an exhausted body, catching up on sleep and having time away from screens and whilst I wouldn’t encourage someone who is experiencing cognitive and emotional exhaustion to do a highly active holiday that will leave them physically exhausted, there is also a case for reconnecting with activities that are fun and that leave us feeling good in our own bodies. The study by Grant (2025) I shared above, also found that physical exercise had the most positive impact on mental health, with social activities following closely behind. Interestingly, passive activities had no significant effect, suggesting that the stereotypical ‘lying on a sun lounger doing nothing for 2 weeks’ might not be the best way to increase your wellness on holiday. I think for most people there is a balance to be found between getting the rest and recovery you need and connecting with activities that bring you joy and make you feel like you.
I do a lot of work around identifying and using personal values with clients. When we’re incredibly busy often the things that connect us to who we really are get lost and forgotten. We might have values of connection, creativity, adventure or fun that are banging the doors on the cupboard we have locked them into. Giving them some space on a holiday can help to connect to ourselves beyond what we achieve at work or what we do for others. It can help connect us to ourselves as whole human beings and hopefully we will find ways to reintroduce some of those activities into our daily lives when we return. At the end of the article I share some self-coaching questions which you can use to reflect on what kinds of breaks work best for you.
With 57% of UK workers admitting to working either ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ while taking booked leave (BreatheHR), it’s not just taking time physically away from work that’s important, it’s properly disconnecting that matters too. Research has shown (Grant et al.,2025) that people who were able to mentally detach from work achieved the greatest mental health gains from their break.
What can we do before and after a break to make sure it genuinely supports our wellbeing?
Blocking out the day before and after leave can help to reduce anxiety levels. In the day before you don’t want to be in back-to-back meetings and then up late finishing work off when you should be packing. Anticipate that there will be curved balls thrown at you on the last day, so keep the space clear to be ready. Planning what you are going to do when you get back and scheduling time in can also mean you can go on holiday without your mind waking you at 3am to remind you that you need to do something when you get back.
Again, on the first day back from work, anticipate that it is highly likely that there will be an email or a request that you need to respond to urgently, so give yourself a fighting chance, and leave that first day free. Hopefully this will mean that you don’t feel the need to log on to your emails on the day before you start back to work.
You can take the ‘out of office’ message a step further by anticipating what might come up and being clear with key contacts about who they should contact. This should hopefully help with the anxiety about what might be lurking in your inbox while you are away, helping you to resist the urge to log on.
Self-coaching questions to help you make the most of your breaks from work
If this article has resonated with you, why not make some time to reflect on these self-coaching questions.
- Reflecting on the breaks that left me feeling both rested and energised, what key elements made the biggest difference?
- What kinds of breaks involve activities that connect me to my values? (If you haven’t explored and defined your values, I have a worksheet you can download: https://hazelandersonturner.co.uk/resources/)
- From what I know about myself and my energy levels:
- How often do I need to take a break?
- Do regular long weekends, more infrequent longer breaks or a mix of both work best?
- Who would I ideally go away with?
- What balance of rest and activity works best for me.
- What do I need to do to enable me to schedule in my leave for the next year (or as much of the year as is possible) by the end of this week?
- What difference would this make to my future self if I committed to doing this and made it a priority?
References
Grant, R. S., Buchanan, B. E., & Shockley, K. M. (2025). I need a vacation: A meta-analysis of vacation and employee well-being. Journal of Applied Psychology. Advance online publication.
Maslach, C, & Leiter, M P (2016). Understanding the Burnout Experience: Recent Research and Its Implications for Psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15, 103-111.
McCuistion, T. S. (2016). The relationship between resilience and sleep quality.
Online research links
https://www.breathehr.com/en-gb/resources/holiday-burnout-report-2024
https://timetastic.co.uk/blog/the-state-of-annual-leave-statistics-for-2024-2025
