What Is a Micro Break? Ideas and How to Automate Them

A micro break is a very short pause from your work, usually lasting a few seconds to a couple of minutes. You take it often, and you usually stay at or near your desk. The point is to change what your eyes and body are doing: look away from the screen, stand up or stretch, then go back to work.

There is no official length. A break counts as "micro" because it is short, frequent and easy to fit in. It doesn't have to last a set number of seconds.

What counts as a micro break

A micro break means you stop the task. Switching to another screen doesn't count. These count:

• Looking at something across the room or out of a window for 20 seconds
• Standing up and rolling your shoulders
• Refilling your water glass

These don't:

• Checking your phone
• Reading email
• Scrolling a news site

During those, your eyes stay focused on a screen at close range, and you usually keep the same posture. Not much changes.

A micro break also isn't a reward for finishing something. It happens on a schedule, even when you haven't reached a good stopping point. That is why most people end up using some kind of reminder.

Micro breaks vs long breaks

Most break routines mix the two. Micro breaks are tiny and frequent. Long breaks come less often, and you leave your desk for them.

Micro breaks don't replace long ones. If you've done several hours of screen work with only 20-second pauses, you still need a proper break.

Where the 20-20-20 rule fits

The 20-20-20 rule is the best-known micro break. Every 20 minutes, you look at something about 20 feet (6 m) away for 20 seconds. Our guide to the 20-20-20 rule covers it in more detail.

Where Pomodoro breaks fit

The Pomodoro Technique also has short and long breaks. Its breaks are built around timed focus sessions, not around resting your eyes. If you work that way, read what the Pomodoro Technique is and how many pomodoros to plan in a day. You can still take micro breaks during a longer focus session.

Micro break ideas

Each of these takes under two minutes and needs no equipment. To pick one, do the opposite of what you've been doing. If you've been staring at small text, look far away. If you've been sitting still, stand up. If you've been typing, use your hands differently.

For your eyes

• Look at the farthest thing you can see, such as a window or the end of a hallway, for 20 seconds.
• Close your eyes and keep them closed for a slow count of 10.
• Look away from the screen and blink deliberately a few times.

For your body

• Stand up, then sit back down.
• Roll your shoulders backward a few times.
• Turn your head slowly to each side.
• Stretch your arms overhead.
• Open and close your hands, then shake them out.

For your head

• Take three slow breaths.
• Get a glass of water.
• Walk to another room and back.
• Tidy one thing on your desk.

If a stretch or movement hurts, stop and talk to a health professional. A break routine is a habit, not a treatment.

Why micro breaks get skipped

People usually know what to do on a break. The hard part is remembering to take one. These are the usual reasons breaks get skipped:

• You're in the middle of something. The break feels like an interruption, so you put it off and then forget it.
• The reminder is easy to dismiss. A notification you can swipe away gets swiped away.
• The interval doesn't suit your day. A reminder every 20 minutes during a call is annoying, so you turn reminders off completely.
• The break turns into screen time. Checking your phone keeps your eyes focused at the same close distance.

An automatic reminder helps with the first two. For the third, choose an interval you can actually stick to.

How to automate micro breaks

With a built-in timer

macOS has no dedicated break reminder. You can use a timer in the Clock app instead. The drawback is that you have to start a new timer yourself after every break. That's fine for a few hours of focused work, but it doesn't work as a background habit that runs all day. See how to set a timer on Mac for other ways to do it.

On Windows, Focus Sessions in the Clock app let you choose how long a session lasts and whether it includes breaks.

With a break reminder app

A break reminder app runs in the background, counts your work time and starts each break for you. Two options, as of November 2026:

• Stretchly is free and open source and runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. It sits in the menu bar or system tray, and from time to time it shows a short or long break with a suggestion for what to do.
• Time Out by Dejal is a Mac break reminder. It is free to download and offers optional supporter purchases. Version 4.0 needs macOS 26 or later.

We compare these and other apps in break reminder apps for Mac and break reminder apps for Windows.

With Gubb

We make Gubb, a notes app with a built-in break timer. It makes sense if you already keep Gubb open for notes, clipboard history or to-dos and don't want to install a separate app just for breaks.

Break reminders are off by default. To turn them on:

1. Move the pointer to the right edge of a Gubb note and click Settings (the gear).
2. Choose Break Time.
3. Turn on Enable Break Timer.
4. Set Work Duration Before Break.
5. Under Enable Micro Breaks, set the micro break Duration.
6. Under Enable Long Breaks, set the long break Duration and the Frequency.
7. Click Save Break Settings.

With the defaults, you get a 20-second micro break after every 60 minutes of work. After three micro breaks, the next break is a 5-minute long break.

When a break starts:

• A notification appears: "Time for a micro break" or "Time for a long break".
• The Gubb window goes full screen and stays on top. It shows a countdown, an eye-rest tip and two buttons, +1 Minute and Skip Break.
  To follow the 20-20-20 rule: set Work Duration Before Break to 20 minutes and leave the micro break Duration at 20 seconds. With Frequency at 3, you get a long break after every 80 minutes of work.

Limits to know:

• Gubb has to be running. Breaks only happen while Gubb is open. Clicking the window's red close button may quit Gubb, which stops the timer. On a Mac, hide the window instead by clicking the Gubb icon in the menu bar.
• Other displays aren't covered. Only the Gubb window goes full screen. If you use more than one monitor, the others stay visible.
• Breaks can always be skipped. Skip Break is always there. Gubb reminds you to take a break but can't make you take it.
• A changed interval may not apply right away. After changing the work duration, turn Enable Break Timer off and on again and save, or restart Gubb.
• Keep both break types on. Gubb doesn't save the Enable Micro Breaks and Enable Long Breaks switches separately; it only saves the main switch. Long breaks only come after micro breaks, so if you turn micro breaks off, long breaks won't trigger either.
• The pin is cleared after a break. If you pinned the Gubb window on top, each break unpins it, so you have to pin it again.

The timer and breaks section of the help center has more detail. If you want to try it, the direct Mac download comes with a 7-day free trial.

FAQ

How long should a micro break be?

There's no single correct length. The 20-20-20 rule uses 20 seconds of looking at something far away. If you want to stand up and stretch, allow a minute or two.

How often should I take micro breaks?

Choose an interval you'll keep. The 20-20-20 rule uses every 20 minutes. If that's too often for your day, try every 30 to 60 minutes and add a longer break every few hours.

Can I take micro breaks without an app?

Yes. You can use a timer, put a sticky note on your monitor, or link breaks to things you already do, such as sending an email or ending a call. Apps help most if you tend to lose track of time.