If you are reading this post or my blog in general, you probably are a software enginner, programmer, designer – a person who spends considerable amount of time at their desk, similar to me.
I work like that full time so 8 hours a day but there are days when I need to stay longer – 10 hours or even more. What happens to my body in the meantime is… nothing really interesting – I sit and try to do my job. From time to time there’s not anough time to take a break (busy days at project). The other day I find myself so absorbed with work that a couple of hours pass like a blinking of an eye. This is really not healthy (neck aches) and in longer perspective can be really harmful (Repetitive Strain Injury, a.k.a. RSI).
I’ve been using a tool that reminds me to take a break; it’s Workrave. It is a program that assists in the recovery and prevention of RSI. It frequently alerts to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts the user to their daily limit. Personally I find it caring too much, whenever I start working on something I’m receiveing an annoying 
pop up which tells me to hold off and give a break to my eyes, shoulder and neck. That’s not a problem though because it can be configured so that the breaks occur less frequently.
Highly recommended – visit Workrave homepage, download it and start using
P.S. Maybe you know a different way/tool that motivates to take short breaks. If it’s true, can you share it with the others?
