Microbreaks Are Key To Managing Digital Mental Health

Did you know that there is a strong link between increased technology use and mental health issues (attention issues, behaviour problems, stress and anxiety)? This is an especially important fact to be aware of it, given that we have all become digital athletes these days and the marathon we are running daily is overwhelming. Athletes train, stretch and take breaks for water or rest. At work we don’t know what those kinds of breaks are or when to take them. When we worked in an office it was like taking a walk in the park, including having time to sit on the bench and rest. A workday at the office had built-in distractions and breaks. Digital work is a nonstop treadmill set to a high pace. The Digital Wellness Center (DWC) recently released its Digital Mental Health and Wellness Index, revealing new data and information on how we can better manage our mental health by tapping into the power of microbreaks and mental stretching. We chatted with Dr, Mary Donohue of DWC to learn more. —Noa Nichol

Hi Dr. Donohue; please tell us a bit about yourself to start. 

I founded the Digital Wellness Center because stress and anxiety nearly killed me. After five years researching digital overload, I knew I needed to create the world’s first brand dedicated to limiting the negative mental health impact of digital communication on your day, your life and your relationships. The Digital Wellness Center (DWC) uses neuroscience to define how we can take brief moments to reset and recharge. We call these moments microbreaks. Based on the principles of digital psychology, they are specifically written and produced to slow down the brain and give it space to rest. In the same way a smartphone tracks your running performance, we offer employees tools to track their good days and their bad days. And when they have too many bad days, we alert them to help decrease the emotional drain they’re likely feeling. We’re like a stretch before a run; we reduce the risk of injury. As CEO of the Digital Wellness Center, I have been recognized as North America’s leading proactive mental health and digital psychology expert – largely because I have reframed wellness and stress-reduction as communication issues. Our work at the DWC allows organizations to identify and measure the symptoms of stress among their employees and treat those symptoms before they result in employee burnout. We create artificial intelligence that gamifies the reduction of stress, empowering individuals, leaders, and teams to be proactive about positive mental health, rather than reactive. We are literally pioneers in the Welltech industry, mitigating emotional exhaustion in organizations such as Microsoft, Walmart, American Airlines, TD Bank, Bank of Montreal, OLG, and Kaiser Permanente—among several others. In 2018, I was honoured to be named one of 18 Outstanding Women in Tech as well as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in America by Diversity MBA. My work has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, Financial Post, and on air for all North American major news networks. I’m the author of the best-selling book Message Received and a Columbia Business School Lang Center Innovation Fellow. When I’m not working, I am a volunteer with my dogs Hudson and Missy. I’m a yogi, runner, mom, and overall nerd. And for a brief shining moment I will absolutely never forget, I was a Supreme with Miss Diana Ross at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.

Today, we’re talking about tech use and mental health. Can you please explain what you say is the link between the two, and how that link manifests itself mentally, physically and emotionally?

The link between tech and mental health is the brain; digital communication—email, texting, video calls—it all exhausts and overwhelms your brain, and the result is you feel tired and you get grumpy. You lose the ability to make good decisions—at work or at home—because you are experiencing digital brain fog.
The pandemic has led to an unexpected turn of events. We have all become digital athletes. Athletes train, stretch and take breaks for water or rest. At work or when we are socializing using digital communication for entertainment we don’t know what those kinds of breaks are or when to take them. When TV was our primary entertainment technology we had commercials that were mental breaks. Online entertainment like Netflix or Disney+ doesn’t have commercials. Virtual work is exactly the same. When we worked in an office or even watched TV it was like taking a walk in the park, including having time to sit on the bench and rest. A workday at the office had built-in distractions and breaks. Digital work is a nonstop treadmill set to a high pace. Digital is designed to mess with your mind, it draws you in and doesn’t give you an out. There are no natural breaks in digital like there are in a conversation. Your brain gets overwhelmed. Eventually your brain starts to react to this uncertainty and falters; fight or flight begins, which is an acute response in the moment. If it’s constantly happening at work, it starts to affect our perception of events. Fatigue and anxiety begin to weigh you down, affecting your judgments and resulting in less productivity. This creates chronic anxiousness at work, defined as an exhausted but wired feeling in the body. Eventually chronic anxiousness affects your body, which sets in motion a whole series of events. Those might include increased heart rate, sweating, a sense of panic, or it might affect your bowels. Your body can’t sustain this stress, so it adapts to it. This is chronic stress or burnout. It can almost be thought of as a protective measure your body is taking to prevent further damage. The Digital Wellness Center is a proactive mental health technology that prevents you from getting this stressed. In the same way you need to hydrate and have recovery time when working out, you need to rest and/or reset your brain when you are on digital to avoid the downward spiral of negative mental health.

OK, so what are microbreaks and mental stretching and how can we incorporate these practices into our own daily routine?

To mitigate the negative impacts of tech use on your mental health do three things:

1. Remember you’re a digital athlete. Like pulling a hamstring or twisting an ankle, too much “online” running forces your brain to handicap you and stop you from dealing with everything the day throws at you. Drop by our website and check out our resources to make you 7X more effective at dealing with what life throws at you. If you don’t want to subscribe, that is no problem at all. You can set a reminder in your calendar three times a week and visit our free resources we have.
2. Microbreaks are mini movies written and produced by digital phycologists, entertainers, and physiotherapists to help you deal with everything your day throws at you. Microbreaks can be micro-lessons, puzzles and/or seated movements all designed to help you deal with what the day throws at you.
3. Microbreaks range in length from 2½ minutes to 5½ minutes and are written to help you avoid communication complications before they occur, resulting in early prevention of mental health problems. They give your brain time to process, reset, and reboot. You feel less tired, you have more good days than bad days, and you sleep better.
   
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