New Research Finds You Should Actually Be Taking More Breaks At Work

Stepping away for 17 minutes every 52 minutes can improve your productivity.

You don't need science to tell you that slogging at the keyboard eight hours a day gets tiring.

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But here's some to get the ball rolling: One study found sitting around all day can increase your risk of an early death. And if your office is noisy, you're more likely to feel stressed and physical pain. Ugh.

New research shows that the 10% of employees who work the hardest don't actually put in more hours.

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Latvia-based social networking company the Draugiem Group, home of 16 technology startups, used time-tracking app DeskTime to dig into employees' habits. According to the Washington Post, it boasts roughly 36,000 users — a rich database to mine.

The most productive work for 52 minutes at a time, which they follow with a luxurious 17-minute break.

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How? Working hard and playing hard. Instead of distractions peppering their day, the productivity wizards do a mad dash, then completely step away from the computer, Julia Gifford writes about the results in The Muse. That way they don't hit a wall after staring at the same thing too long.

That leaves more than enough time to dip out for a walk without the nagging cloud of undone work hovering over your shoulder.

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Or at least schedule a doctor's appointment for that hernia.

h/t Fast Company