The Covid pandemic brought with itself an out-of-workplace work culture with back-to-back video meetings as its defining attribute. While it is a matter of common knowledge that back-to-back meetings lead to stress, a new brain study has come up with detailed insights on the matter.
In a study sanctioned by Microsoft, researchers confirmed the aforementioned matter of common knowledge: Back-to-back virtual meetings are stressful.
However, the research pointed out to a simple remedy as well: short breaks.
“Our research shows breaks are important, not just to make us less exhausted by the end of the day, but to actually improve our ability to focus and engage while in those meetings,” Michael Bohan, senior director of Microsoft’s Human Factors Engineering group, who oversaw the project, said in an official statement.
The case for breaks: A matter to conclude meeting fatigue?
Meeting fatigue refers to a feeling of tiredness that one experiences after completing frequent workplace meetings.
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The research concluded that breaks between meetings allow the brain to “reset”, reducing a cumulative buildup of stress across meetings.
The chart represents the relative difference in beta activity between break and no-break conditions at the top of each meeting (averaged across the 14 research participants) | Brown Bird Design | Microsoft
The research added that back-to-back meetings can decrease one’s ability to focus and engage. “Breaks are not only good for wellbeing, they also improve our ability to do our best work,” it said.
It added that breaks, even short ones, are important to make the transitions between meetings feel less stressful.
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