Home × office or home and office: importance of breaks at work

The COVID-19 pandemic can be seen as a rite of passage where individuals are being called upon to rethink the dictatorship of the way-of-being through work. With the intensification of the work from home modality, many essential aspects of life became secondary. This way, it is important to think about work breaks, not only from the viewpoint of labor laws, but also for creating moments of reflection for (re)thinking various aspects of work, whether remote or in person. The objective of this study was to promote a reflection on the importance of taking breaks during remote work (working from home) or in-person work, considering the promotion of occupational health and well-being. Breaks during the workday are beneficial to physical and mental health, as they help restore concentration and energy, relieve stress, improve muscle tension, among other factors. Strategies for promoting work breaks cannot be prescribed as recipes but should be considered as possibilities to exercise these moments of disconnection from work on a daily basis. Moreover, the worker can also contribute to improve the quality of working life by adopting simple attitudes such as maintaining adequate hydration and using practices such as foot soaks, meditation, yoga, self-massage, foot reflexology, and mindfulness in the work environment. Therefore, in order for strategies for the promotion of health and occupational well-being to be successful, we need a change in the behavior of managers and workers in order to better reconcile our way-of-being through work and our way-of-being through care.