Designing Break Time.

Hello everyone. I'm Masahiro Okumura.

Well, July is almost over. The rainy season has ended, and summer is in full swing... It's easy to avoid even lunch outings under the scorching sun. In such times, how to effectively take break time within the office—where people spend the longest hours—is crucial.
Okumura and Ito have taken it upon ourselves to adopt the new title of "Break Time Designer." We aim to research and create various break time solutions tailored to the office environment.

■What Matters Now: Break Time

Last time, I wrote a column titled "Revolutionizing Halftime."
Halftime is indeed a crucial break for athletes. It's about effectively refreshing and relaxing both body and mind to prepare for the second half.
Similarly, in offices, many companies have employees immersed in work for long stretches of 7 to 8 hours in the same place. But can humans really maintain that level of concentration?

■Shouldn't Everyone Have a Break Space!?

I think the most obvious break time now is smoking.
Of course, this may only apply to a very small number of people.

For those who do smoke, designated smoking areas are incredibly welcome spaces.
But conversely, there are currently no comfortable break spaces designed for the many non-smokers.
Why is that?
I think companies should provide break spaces for all employees.

Below are trial photos of BODYMETRIX. It truly introduces a new break time concept into the work environment.

■Everyone's Office Break Time

The break times you currently have or are seeking in the future are listed above.
Various companies are also starting to offer their own office break times.
Snack breaks are a perfect example of this.
Of course, a nice cup of coffee would also fit the bill.
For example, balance balls might be another one.

And yoga, well, that's another one.

■In New York, it's the successful businesspeople who do yoga!

Hello! I'm Ami Ito.
The founders of Bo Leaf Media, who run the yoga lesson video site " Yogalog," say, "Business professionals especially should do yoga."

In New York, often called the second birthplace of yoga, it's said that capable businesspeople are the ones who are all doing yoga.
In my previous column, I asked, "Is your brain overworked?" Indeed, the minds of New York's successful businesspeople are constantly running at full speed. Since they rarely find time in their daily lives to 'think about nothing,' they deliberately set aside time for yoga and meditation to refresh themselves and work efficiently.

Recently, even more attention is focused on "mindfulness," which is even more specialized in meditation. Yoga originally began in India from philosophy and thought, but after crossing over to America, it evolved into a globally popular sport through scientific and anatomical research and refinement. In America, lesson video streaming is booming, making it possible to do yoga at home or during spare moments.

Yogalog, Japan's largest yoga video site, offers numerous videos by renowned instructors. Office Yoga videos are also scheduled for release soon, so stay tuned.

This is how the office yoga session actually went at TriStage the other day.
Both men and women, including the HR manager, participated in the 30-minute office yoga session.

Since many people spend their days facing computers, it seems everyone was a bit out of shape? Their first office yoga session was quite challenging.

Even so, everyone seemed relaxed and refreshed afterward, and we've heard requests to do it again. In this way, yoga and other forms of exercise should become a new type of break time going forward.

■Designing Break Time

Starting this December, companies will be required to conduct stress checks for their employees. This signals that companies will increasingly focus on improving the work environment. So, what kind of break time will you take? Everyone wants a break time that suits their personal preferences, right? We particularly want to focus on creating break time centered around exercise.

Next up, we'll propose a break time that looks a little intense!
Stay tuned!!

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