The importance of taking breaks when you're doing research

Remember that your passion doesn't protect you from burnout and mental exhaustion

Taking breaks is important (image created in leonardo.ai)

We are passionate about our science, and that is wonderful; it is one of the best things about this job. It is worth cherishing and worth cultivating.

There is a danger that comes with that passion. It may make us a bit blind to the danger of over-committing, getting overwhelmed, getting exhausted, and may lead to burnout. You say: Surely this would never happen to me. I love my work! My science is so cool, how could it lead to burnout? But the danger is real. Saying yes to too many things because they are all cool, working long hours even though you’re tired because you want to make progress with the question that really excites you. And so on.

Passion needs to be dosed right. It unchecked it can lead to negative consequences for your mental health.

And the important antidote here is to take breaks. We don’t often talk about taking breaks. The narrative seems to be dominated by working hard, processing samples, writing code and producing manuscripts. But breaks are super important.

Why? Because they recharge your batteries. Because after you have walked away from a problem for a while, then when you come back it often seems all so easy. Because when you work when you are already exhausted you tend to make mistakes. And most importantly, if you work so hard that you are physically and mentally exhausted, then you will eventually lose your passion for research and science. And that would be terrible.

I don’t have time to take breaks, I have so many deadlines and I’m juggling so many things at the same time, you say. But the fact of the matter is this: if you don’t take breaks and risk burnout, you really will have downtime, and the cost for productivity and your mental health will be much higher.

So take a break.

But what kind of break? This is what you need to find out through self-experimenting. Do you need a six-weeks vacation once a year, completely unplugging from everything, sitting by the beach? Then do it (if your employer allows it). For me, for example, this does not work. Maybe you need more frequent breaks during the day, like a nap, a walk in the park, a visit to a coffee shop. Then do it. Or maybe you just need to take entire days off, in the middle of the week or whenever. Whenever you need to do this, then do it. I do this all the time when I feel that it’s all getting too much. And it regularly does. The point is, you need to figure out what works for you, mostly through trial and error. What works for one person may not work for the next. Invest the time to figure out what works.

These break times are boosters for your creativity. Your mind holds on gently to a problem that you are researching, even while you are thinking about nothing and doing nothing; your brain still works for you in the background. It comes up with solutions. It is no coincidence that we have ideas when walking around or in the shower, when our mind is just occupied with something else and when you are relaxed and not actively thinking about the problem. So, ironically, taking breaks can make you more productive, since what we use a lot in our kind of work is our brain. We always need new ideas. You can force samples through the analysis pipeline, but not ideas.

Take care!
Let me know in the comments what you think and what an effective break means to you, or how you notice when you need one.

I also made a video on this topic in case you’re interested.