That stress at work can impair mental and physical health as well as on-the-job performance is well understood. What is perhaps less widely recognised is the importance of recovery as a powerful antidote to workplace stress.
A large and growing body of research shows that recovery – a ‘restoration’ process through which a person’s stress level returns to a normal state – is not just passive downtime, but an active mechanism that helps restore cognitive function and promote long-term wellbeing.
‘Without deliberate recovery, cognitive fatigue sets in’
In much the same way as athletes build recovery into training schedules to allow time for their bodies to rest and grow stronger, prioritising time for recovery can help corporate professionals sustain consistent, high-quality work.
Why recovery matters
It can be tempting to believe that a busy schedule or looming deadline leaves little room to pause, but proactively taking breaks throughout the day helps to maintain higher energy reserves, improve cognitive functioning and boost performance, especially in demanding professions.
Recovery allows the prefrontal cortex – the area of the brain that helps us make decisions, solve problems and stay focused – to rest and reset, explains Hong Kong-based psychotherapist Janice Lam, who has worked in investment banking and fund management and now helps professionals and organisations improve workplace wellbeing.
‘Without deliberate recovery, cognitive fatigue sets in,’ she says. ‘This leads to a decline in working memory, impaired risk assessment and ultimately burnout. By building in recovery, professionals can maintain a high baseline of accuracy and high-quality work throughout the entire day, not just the first few hours.’
‘Prioritising recovery is a strategic investment in cognitive endurance’
Importantly, prioritising recovery isn’t ‘slacking off’, Lam adds, but ‘a strategic investment in cognitive endurance’.
Norman Li, professor of psychology at Singapore Management University, says the modern workplace is often poorly aligned with the conditions humans evolved to thrive in. From an evolutionary perspective, long periods of sitting indoors while largely working alone ‘can lead to psychological and cognitive overload and people getting tired and worn out’, he says.
‘We’re built to do strenuous work for a certain amount of time, then rest for a while,’ he adds. ‘It’s very important to figure out ways to rest, recuperate and rebuild when we’re at work.’
Little but often
When it comes to recovery, small daily doses are more effective than properly unwinding once or twice a year. ‘Waiting for a two-week annual holiday to recover is a flawed strategy,’ Lam says. ‘It’s the equivalent of starving yourself all year and expecting a single feast to fix it.’
But recovery needn’t involve a regular yoga class or hours reading a book in the park. ‘It might be as simple as a little bit of mindfulness. It can be stretching and walking instead of sitting at your desk eating lunch,’ explains Singapore-based clinical psychologist Amrit Kaur.
‘Micro recoveries are small windows that act as circuit breakers for stress’
In fact, micro breaks lasting no more than 10 minutes can help to mitigate the impact of long and stressful working hours. ‘There’s a lot of research coming out that shows that even just a few minutes here and there helps break up your daily routine,’ Li says.
Lam agrees. ‘Micro recoveries, like a quiet morning coffee without looking at your phone, or a brief walk after work, are incredibly potent,’ she says. ‘These small windows act as circuit breakers for stress.’
She suggests using transitions between meetings as opportunities to stand up and stretch, and scheduling recovery under a calendar slot called ‘reset’. ‘Treat recovery with the same respect you treat a client meeting,’ she says.
Customise your approach
With 84% of Hong Kong workers stating that work-related stress interferes with daily life and 61% of employees in Singapore reporting experiencing burnout – a pattern replicated across much of Asia – understanding how to recover effectively has become increasingly important.
Yet recovery looks different for everyone. ‘It’s about self-awareness and knowing what works for you,’ explains Kaur. ‘What fills my cup and what depletes it? Can I handle another conversation, or do I need quiet time or physical activity?’
She says people with client-facing jobs may prefer to recover alone, while desk-bound workers may gravitate to movement and exercise. ‘The point is to reverse the depletion of mental and physical resources.’
Likewise, stage of life and career can also influence what realistic recovery looks like. ‘Your load is probably very different if you’re a young person in a stressful workplace but you live with your parents and your laundry is done, compared to being a mother of three kids working in that same stressful workplace – a quiet, uninterrupted coffee might be the recovery that’s available to you,’ Kaur says.
‘Even five minutes in nature can slow down your heart rate’
Lam says it can be tempting to push recovery aside during especially busy periods, but these are often the times when it’s needed most. ‘A professional who is managing a newborn at home, navigating a personal crisis or going through peak audit season will have a much lower threshold for cognitive fatigue and will naturally require more frequent, deliberate recovery touchpoints,’ she explains.
For Li, spending time in nature reconnects humans with environments they are naturally attuned to and is a key source of recovery for most people. ‘A lot of research, including my own, shows that even five to 10 minutes in nature can slow down your heart rate and reduce blood pressure. It has a restorative effect,’ he says. ‘And if you can’t be outside, we can induce the effects by displaying posters and pictures of nature inside.’
