1-Minute Wednesday No. 149: How to Avoid Red Brain
Think about how you felt the last time your day was booked with back-to-back meetings.
It’s no secret days like these take a mental toll. But now,?new research ?from Microsoft’s WorkLab provides clear evidence of the strain going from one meeting to the next puts on your brain.?
In the study, researchers took two groups of people and put EEG caps on them to measure brain activity associated with stress. One group had back-to-back meetings with no breaks, and the other had just a short break between each meeting.?
What they found can be described in color. The no-break group had what could be visually described as red brain. The group that had just a short break in between meetings maintained what is called blue brain throughout.
As you can surmise, red brain is associated with stress, lack of focus, and reduced engagement.?
Researchers found that even a 10-minute break gave the brain time to reset?(1). Scheduling breaks between meetings will help make your meetings more effective, efficient, and effortless.
So far, we have covered 3 rules for effortless meetings:
Next week, I will answer the question I’ve received most during the effortless meetings series: If we have fewer meetings, how do we make sure the work is getting done?
p.s. Have you had success implementing one or more of these strategies? Share in the comments on LinkedIn or send an email to [email protected].
Did you miss one of the newsletters?in the effortless meetings?series? You can access them here:?Effortless Meetings?1 ?|?Effortless Meetings 2
(1)??www.microsoft.com. (n.d.). Research Proves Your Brain Needs Breaks. [online] Available at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/brain-research.
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Mental Noise Architect → I turn chaos into clarity for those brave enough to choose differently??Host of Rawsome Parents Podcast
1 年Rest is an essential part of self-care. Recognizing our own capacity and taking time for rest allows us to recharge and be more productive in the long run. Greg McKeown ??
Strategy and Growth | Transformational Coach | Indian School of Business | Certified from Yale University, University of Michigan
1 年In today's fast-paced world, it's important to streamline our meetings and make the most out of our time. I've personally found that incorporating technology and setting clear agendas beforehand can really make a difference
Founder Habit Disruption | Stress, Breath & Performance Coach & Consultant
1 年We can't seem understand the relationship between productivity and recovery when it comes to work. Nobody would think they can sprint as hard as they can for an hour without taking rest intervals, but when it comes to work those rest intervals are seen as frivolous. I'm glad others are out there trying to move the needle in favor of lining work up with how our nervous systems actually work!
On Sabbatical | Product Marketing, Pricing and Packaging, & GTM Expert
1 年When we were in the office there was a natural limit on the number of daily/weekly meetings due to available rooms (real estate). Once we are fully virtual this restriction has been removed and as a society we're still grappling with meeting overload. Email took years from intro to reach overload, but virtual meetings reached this point in a very short time. Work is not and should not be a connected series of virtual meetings - companies that can figure this out will build a sustainable competitive advantage by being more productive that those in meeting-hell.
Area Chair at C12 Business Forums
1 年This seemed even more damaging during the early days of COVID, when almost every meeting was virtual. Making virtual meetings 20, 50, 80 minutes (leaving 10 minutes of space between) was a game changer.