Midday Reset for Mental and Physical Health
We live in a culture that glorifies the grind: back-to-back meetings, nonstop emails, working lunches and pushing through fatigue because “there’s too much to do.” Over time, physical and mental fatigue can cloud our perception of productivity, and we may not be working as efficiently as we think.
If you want to think more clearly, move better and perform at a higher level, a midday reset may be the solution. Taking time during your busy workday will not derail your progress or put you behind schedule — in fact, it can do the opposite. This is not slacking off or procrastinating; it is a strategic way to re-energize mentally and physically.
There are many benefits to incorporating a midday reset into your workday.
Mentally, our brains struggle to maintain deep focus for hours at a time. Productivity and output tend to decline without breaks. A quick reset can restore attention, improve decision-making, reduce mental errors and enhance creativity.
Emotionally, pushing through stress can strain your nervous system. Cortisol levels rise, the body remains in a heightened state, heart rate increases and muscles become tense. A reset can help lower cortisol levels, improve emotional control and activate the parasympathetic nervous system — the body’s calming response. This can lead to better conversations with colleagues, greater patience in stressful situations and fewer reactive moments.
Physically, we benefit from getting up and moving during the workday. Prolonged sitting contributes to tight hip flexors, rounded posture, neck tension and low back pain. It can also decrease blood flow and oxygen to the brain. Standing and moving helps reduce stiffness and soreness, support proper posture and restore circulation.
Now that we understand the benefits of a midday reset, here are a few simple ways to incorporate one into your workday:
- Take a 10-minute walk
- Walking, ideally outside, improves circulation, boosts mood, relieves stress and enhances creativity
- Bonus: Take your walk unplugged and leave your phone behind
- Try a five-minute breathing reset
- Box breathing: Inhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds
- This intentional breathing exercise helps calm the nervous system, recenter focus and lower stress — practice in a quiet environment if possible
- Do a quick workout or stretch
- Complete a few sets of bodyweight exercises or move through a short stretching routine
- This increases blood flow, reduces muscle tension and improves energy and mood
- Sign up for our daily chair flow, a 10-minute stretch break offered at 11:10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET each weekday
- Follow along with our prerecorded chair flow!
An athlete training for competition provides a helpful analogy for how we should approach our workday. If an athlete trains five days a week without prioritizing recovery, performance declines. Similarly, a nonstop work schedule without time to reset leads to decreased productivity, fatigue and stress. Now that you have the tools, incorporate a midday reset into your routine so you can continue to show up at your best each day.
About the author
Bryan Mizell
Mr. Bryan Mizell is an Advanced Fitness and Wellness Coach in the Slainte Fitness Center at USLI.