If you're powering through your day like a caffeine-fueled robot with no off switch—stop. Your brain and body are not machines. We are more like rechargeable batteries, but we need to recharge. On this episode of Crina and Kirsten Get to Work, our hosts discuss giving IT (all of IT) a rest.

SHOW NOTES

A break is not a luxury—it's a necessity. A German study found that we respond to physical overload with back, neck and shoulder pain. Our bodies are talking to us, but are we listening? And our brains do something similar - short-circuiting into anger, passivity, or full shutdown mode (hi, doom scrolling in the bathroom). Breaks help avoid those responses - and in fact are alarms from our bodies, brains and souls that we need to give it a minute (and maybe lots more) While there is nothing wrong with guilty social media scrolls or fake “I’m just checking email” moments, we need actual pauses—time for your body and mind to reset.

We may think that breaks are the enemy of productivity—but research says breaks are golden ticket to performance and productivity. Breaks replenish glucose, reduce stress hormones, and activate the brain’s “default mode network,” a magical zone responsible for creativity, introspection, and those “aha” moments (yes, even Pixar movies have emerged from a well-timed lunch break).

And it’s not just your brain that benefits. Animal shelter workers who took breaks lasted longer in their careers, and team breaks build trust and improve collaboration. Even short “microbreaks” matter—especially when they come after tough meetings or demanding tasks.

The barriers? Hustle culture, guilt, tech, and the glorification of burnout. But changing the narrative around unproductive time is crucial. Walk. Get out in nature - heck, check out those orca videos. Stretch. Nap. Stare at trees. Laugh at a meme. Walk your dog. Daydream. Call your mom. Whatever recharges you.

Because the ultimate flex isn’t grinding 24/7—it’s knowing when to step away.

Good Reads:

• A Guide to Taking Better Breaks at Work – Harvard Business Review, Feb 2025
• How to Take Better Breaks at Work, According to Research – Harvard Business Review, May 2023
• Impact of Recovery Breaks on Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders – Applied Ergonomics, 2023
• The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World, Rosen & Gazzaley

Buckle up buttercups, we're diving into the panacea or peril of the four-day workweek. As always, we get to use our critical minds and decide for ourselves.

SHOW NOTES

The five-day workweek is one of the the results of worker safer reforms in the 1930s. As a society, we concluded and adopted laws that provided greater compensation for workers when they worked in excess of 40 hours in a week. This was consistent with what has been a 100 year trend of working less - at least until the 1970s—when we started working more. This working more may explain the growing number of companies and countries (aka Iceland) that have adopted the four day work week,

Let’s start with Iceland—the poster child for all kinds of worker and gender rights. After a wildly successful pilot starting in 2015, 90% of its workforce now enjoys a 36-hour week, full pay, and more time for fjords, knitting, or just plain breathing. The best part? Productivity didn’t drop. In some sectors, it rose, as did mental health and happiness. It sounds like employee satisfaction and improved mental health for the win!!

Here in the U.S., four-day weeks are gaining ground. In 2024, 22% of workers said their employers offer one (up from 14% in 2022). But not all 4-day weeks are created equal. Some compress 40 hours into four 10-hour marathons, while others reduce hours and pay and, the best for employees, reduced hours without a reduction in pay.

Still, it’s not all sunshine and extra Sundays. Critics warn of scheduling chaos, uneven workloads, and—gasp—selection bias in studies. And let’s be honest, if the culture still glorifies overwork, slapping on a shorter week won’t fix burnout.

So what now? Tune in for the full scoop—history, data, debates, and what it takes to truly work less and live more.

GOOD READS

Iceland Embraced a 4-Day Workweek in 2019 – Now, Nearly Six Years On, All Gen Z Forecasts Have Materialized

Days of Work over a Half Century: The Rise of the Four-Day Workweek - Daniel S. Hamermesh, Jeff E. Biddle, 2025

4 Day Week Global

Challenging The Hype: Why A 4-Day Work Week Won’t Solve Burnout

A Guide to Implementing the 4-Day Workweek

The rise of the 4-day workweek

We all know that our jobs can impact our health: from sleepless nights to skipped meals, your job can take it’s toll. But research shows us that the cumulative impacts of these offenses might be harming you more than you think.

SHOW NOTES

Emily, a mom on the internet, said the quiet part out loud: admitting they daydream about being hospitalized—not because they want to be sick, but because it’s the only way they’d be "allowed" to rest without guilt. Another mom chimed in, saying her fondest memory of the year her third child was born was, bizarrely, the emergency appendectomy that forced her to let her husband give the baby formula, pawn off the toddlers, and finally sleep. It’s not the hospital gown that’s appealing—it’s the mandatory break, the absence of decision-making, and the fact that, for once, no one needs anything from you.

This kind of exhaustion isn’t just a mom problem—it’s a work problem, too. Work and health are in constant tug-of-war. When we sacrifice sleep to meet deadlines, skip meals to catch up, or forgo vacation because "the team needs us," the cost isn’t just burnout; it’s actual, measurable harm to our well-being. Studies have shown that people who don’t take vacations die younger, those in high-stress, low-control jobs face skyrocketing rates of depression, and shift workers can experience full-blown health crises just from disrupted sleep.

But work isn't inherently bad. Done well, it gives us purpose, community, pride, and even joy. The problem is when it tips into overwork, disconnection, and stress without relief. Research as far back as the 1930s and current research all point to the same thing: whether it’s unemployment or toxic employment, when we lose the ability to balance work with health, meaning, and community, we suffer.

And the kind of work we do can also impact our health: miners; airline pilots, law enforcement - these are all jobs that even in the best of circumstances present challenges to taking care of our physical health.

The message here is be aware of how your work impacts your health and consider measures to mitigate those aspects negatively impacting health and emphasize those aspects that improve your health.