Be it in school or at the workplace, attention to some crucial responsibility may obligate a need to rest. The level of this may vary for adults. Their maturity and experience may need them to look for such choices that may relax them soon and may be useful in personal development as well. Consequently, energizing activities and games may be the best fit for them.
To assist adults during or after a day at office, we here listed out a few brain break ideas that can be used to relax during or after a hectic day effortlessly. These are easy and effective as group activities as well. Some of these activities are also for work-from-home employees which they can indulge in through meeting platforms like zoom or google meet.
Brain break for adults at work: Why are they needed?
A brain that never stops and continues to load on more and more ideas and anxieties is dooming itself. Allowing yourself to take a break, recharge, and fully relax has a significant impact on stress reduction. Just like we talked about brain breaks for college and older students, breaks are the most effective approach to avoiding work stress. Apart from this, here are a few noteworthy reasons why brain breaks are needed:
- Ensure Attentiveness: An adult’s attention span might range from 15 to 20 minutes. When it comes to focusing, we need to understand that everything we do during the day depletes our cognitive resources, which is why we sometimes feel like we’re running on fumes. Breaks are essential in order for us to be more attentive to the work we are doing and in turn become more efficient.
- Helps in Efficient work: Working for lengthy periods of time without taking a break may exhaust the individual. Taking pauses helps you become more creative by refreshing your thoughts and replenishing your mental resources. Workers’ involvement rises with regular breaks, which is closely connected with productivity. Workers will be more efficient when they take frequent breaks.
- Better decision making: We may experience “decision fatigue” as a result of the growing number of options available to us when we are working and have to make decisions. This can also be a situation wherein we are overloaded with options. As a result, we do not spend much time in decision-making. Taking a break from work before making a choice allows us to refocus our thoughts. We may be better equipped to assess the issue, weigh choices, and make the best — not the simplest — decision.
- Prioritizing tasks: Brain breaks are effective as they give an insight to an individual as to what is to be prioritized, and what can take a backseat. Hence, it would be a good idea to take a pause and reevaluate the goals and priorities. This also helps an individual become more systematic, as they would now know which task to put the most focus on, and which to ignore at the moment.
Brain break ideas to try
From online games to a few websites that cater to brain breaks – a lot of options are now available for people who want an activity to relax their minds. Here is a list of games that may rejuvenate adults.
1. The one who laughs first
In this game, any member of the group begins by trying to make the rest of the group laugh with a joke, impersonation, or whatever else comes to mind. Even if they think the individual attempting to make everyone else laugh amusing, the others must maintain a poker face.
The person who is unable to control their laughter loses the game. Next in line is the individual who smiles first. You can choose someone to play referee in each round.
This activity is a great way for everyone to have fun since everyone will be entertained. There will be a light-hearted environment in the workplace after this activity, and everyone will feel more energised as they will be in a better mood after playing this humorous game.
2. Talent hunt
In this game, each individual will consider a talent that they possess. Something unrelated to your job/ academics. After that, they stand up and try to portray their unique talent without using any words in Pictionary-style.
When someone correctly guesses what you are trying to say, you tell others about it. You can also share memories or stories related to that particular talent. Next up is the person who correctly predicted. They will then follow the same pattern.
This game will allow individuals to talk and converse about activities that are not related to their work. This will let them talk about things that they usually don’t talk about.
3. Word formation
For this activity, we need cards with various letters of words on them. You can make these cards yourself as well.
In this activity, seven people come to the front of the room and form a straight line facing the audience. After that, the letter cards are distributed to each participant one at a time. Each participant holds their letter card above their head so that the audience may readily see it. Now, they need to Demonstrate how the letters form a seven-letter English word. Members of the audience should tell the directions to the letter bearers, instructing them to rearrange the letters in the proper sequence to spell the word.
The recipients of the letters will follow the audience’s instructions. If required, give some advice to help speed up the procedure. When the word is properly constructed, everyone will read it out, ending the game.
Rather than being an individual endeavor, it is a joint activity and a collective challenge.. This practice immediately motivates employees to work more enthusiastically.
4. Word connectors
Any individual starts by uttering an unrelated word. The next person in the circle tries to come up with a term that is related to it. Continue in a clockwise direction. Each individual will keep saying a word related to the word person before they say it. Continue until one individual fails to say a word and loses the game.
This is an engaging activity that will let grown-ups feel less stressed and more energized. Adults will also benefit from socializing through this activity as they will connect with their colleagues more while doing this activity.
5. Spot the difference
For this activity, Take your squad to an office area that has objects in it. This space might be anything from the kitchen to a coworker’s workplace. Ask your team to memorize what they saw before closing their eyes. Now, Rearrange a few objects when everyone’s eyes are closed. Make sure to Keep track of the modifications you’ve made.
Now, Allow your coworkers to open their eyes. Each of them will check for the changes that have been made. Make a list of as many modifications as feasible with your coworkers. The player who correctly detects the most differences wins.
This is a simple and easy exercise that will instantly lift up the workers and make them more energetic.
6. Counting game
This game involves calmness, awareness, and concentration. Although being easy, this activity must be played in groups. The basic rule would be that no two persons should speak at the same time. All the players must keep their eyes closed, and the group should form a tight and hunched circle.
The objective of the game is to count to the number of the total strength. For example, if the number of people in the room is 20, the group must count to 20. One person starts counting, and the others follow. However, there is no need to follow a particular order while saying the number. That means, even after the 5th person, the 15th member can speak the next number.
But, the numbers must be in the right order. Also, the main rule must be kept in mind, which is not to speak together. If two members say the same number together, the entire group needs to start from the beginning.
When the group has counted up to the predetermined number with everyone saying a number once, they have succeeded.
7. GIF or meme game
Set up an online whiteboard or a shared Google Doc for this online energizer where participants may post their responses to the challenge. Invite your participants to find a GIF or meme that describes the situation well.
In this game, a participant makes a set of situations and writes them down on a google doc. This google doc must have multiple copies, which need to be sent to all the participants. It can have situations like – when you are stuck in the office but need to rush to a party! Or something like, when your boss rejects your leave plea!
Next up, the participants need to find the right GIF or meme for that particular situation. These can be downloaded from the internet and pasted to the situation in the google doc. Next, the participant who shared the docs now shows the responses of each individual to the entire group.
By sharing a few laughs together, this activity can be a fun-filled one to relieve the stress and get back to work energised. The teammates can also vote as to who found the best memes which can make this activity an even better opportunity to work as a brain break game.
8. Asking questions
The game’s basic rules are that every question must be replied to with another question, and if you answer a question with anything other than a question, you will be eliminated from the game. You also can’t just ask the same question that was posed to you.
In this activity, Instruct people to form pairs. It is the turn of each member to initiate a conversation with a question. Repeat a few times to ensure that everyone gets a chance to start the topic. Give participants a topic to talk about between rounds, such as a vacation, sports, or movies. Each individual should make an effort to ask questions about the subject.
This is an intellectually stimulating activity that will keep adults interested. They will be recharged after this activity and would want to be more productive at work.
9. Assemble the picture
In this activity, Fill a jar with diverse drawing ideas, such as family members, pets, or places for workers to draw. When it’s time for a mental break, all of your colleagues can choose one at random and sketch it.
They can choose many cards and combine them into one masterpiece for added difficulty. This activity will allow grown-ups to show their creativity. They can enjoy and remember their childhood days which would motivate them and make them more energetic towards work.
10. Musical play
This activity can be conducted by a guitarist or other instrument player, a vocalist. Encourage folks to consider playing music. Invite them to join in with the leader’s free-form beat or a recognised song or melody.
Encourage individuals to trade and swap instruments. If no instruments are available, you can also use sticks, cans, bottles, pots, and boxes as instruments.
This activity is a great way for adults to release their stress and feel relaxed. After this activity, they can return to their work in a much better mood and work with more efficiency.
11. Breathing exercise
Focusing on one element of our body is an easy way to refocus our minds. This diverts the brain’s attention away from unwanted thoughts. Inhale deeply while counting to four, hold for another four counts, exhale, hold, and so on.
Deep breathing is an excellent habit to cultivate because it boosts productivity and self-awareness. Participants can rest for around eight minutes with their eyes open and breathing properly.
Next, They speed up their breathing for slightly over two minutes while breathing through their nose, then dropped down to normal breathing. This cycle will be repeated eight times.
Anxiety, rage, or terror may be triggered by rapid breathing rates. Breathing exercises will calm the workers and make them more focused on their work.
12. Dumb Charades
Who doesn’t love a fun game of dumb charades? This can also be played virtually for people who are working from home. Basically one of the participants can take up the duty of giving each participant a movie, and they would have to enact it in front of the whole group.
The participant who guesses first wins the round! The game keeps on going, where the participant can increase the difficulty level in each round.
The participant who guesses the most amount of movies wins the game! This can be a fun brain break activity for employees who are working from home but looking for a break from their monotonous routine.
13. Virtual scavenger hunt
With the world going virtual, this activity involves the use of meeting apps like google meet, or zoom. Individuals can be divided into groups, or they can also play against each other.
Basically, in the game, one person needs to verbally give a list of 10 things that are easily available in the house. But, they would give a description of it. For example, gather a red fruit, a thing which has the top golden, a blue bedsheet, etc.
The individuals now would be on a timer of 2 minutes, wherein they have to collect all of those things which are said by the candidate who is talking about the items
The catch here would be that the individuals need to memorize what all they need to get, and nothing would be given in writing. Next, after two minutes, the participant informs that their time is over. All this while, the cameras of all the participants would be on. Next up, they would again speak the things’ names, and all participants would have to show if they have got that particular item or not.
Whoever gets all of the 10 things, wins the game! However, this game can also be played in an in-person setting. This is a fun activity, and the workers working from home can also participate in it. It will allow adults sufficient time to relax and get back to their work with more energy.
Wrapping up,
Brain breaks are often beneficial in different ways, especially for those individuals who traverse the digital society as a part of their work. Not only in relaxing mentally, these activities, when ensured in groups, may also assist in better social abilities.
You may try these amazing brain break activities and games with your colleagues and also find your favorite activity among them. Adults can also enjoy some exciting brain-break online games to rejuvenate themselves during hectic hours. These may boost your energy in short intervals and retain motivation and enthusiasm for your work.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,