12 Science Approved Hacks To Boss Your Productivity

9. Take Breaks

The human brain is just not designed to sustain the kind of concentration levels we demand of it these days, and so after a while of

A study by the office supply store, Staples, found that a quarter of its employees don't take any breaks other than their lunch due to guilt, despite the fact that "90% of employers say they encourage breaks, and an overwhelming majority of workers (86%) acknowledge that taking a break would make them more productive".

Regular breaks are an essential part of the working day, but for some reason people still feel guilty about taking them. They should really feel guilty about not taking them as the drop in productivity will be costing their employers more that if they had given their brains adequate rest time.

Apparently, 3pm is the least productive part of the day so, whenever you decide to take your other breaks, this post-lunch slump is a priority.

Although it's good to take yourself somewhere else and even get a bit of exercise, you don't necessarily have to even leave your work station to take a break. A study by the National University of Singapore found that just messing around online for 10 minutes (but preferably not checking emails or texts) can significantly improve productivity and keep you more focussed once you return to work.

You can break up your day in a number of ways depending on the demands of your job, but some experts think that the system of working for 52 minutes at a time, then breaking for 17 minutes could be the most effective as it causes you to treat your working periods as a sprint rather than just a slow plod to the end of the day.