As workforce well-being continues to decline, employers are on the lookout for solutions that can make a significant positive impact on employee mental health, mental performance, and overall workplace recovery. Analysts point to long-term strategies—including holding executives accountable and empowering managers to support employee well-being—but there’s a step you can take today to make an impact by normalizing brief mental recharge breaks during the workday.
This World Mental Health Day, encourage employees to start caring for their minds in the same way they care for their phones—with a regular recharge or mental recharge routine at work.
Just as we don’t expect our phones to keep functioning without a regular recharge, we shouldn’t expect our minds to do so. When we focus our attention too long, we exhaust our mental fuel and wear ourselves out, psychologists say, which can noticeably diminish our mental performance at work. We compromise our decision-making ability and put ourselves at risk for a wide range of challenges, including spiraling stress, insomnia, unmanageable anxiety, depression, and burnout.
Taking a short break to relax—even for five minutes—can improve our mood, attention, and performance. Taking a moment to do something we enjoy can reduce stress and burnout, ease physical symptoms, and improve job satisfaction, research shows. These short pauses act as mental recharge “micro-breaks” that help the brain reset between tasks and support sustainable workplace performance.
Calm’s “Recharging Your Mind” collection helps you relax, recharge, and rebalance for better mental performance at work
In support of World Mental Health Day, Calm has curated a collection of resources in the Calm app that you and your employees can tap to relax and recharge in the moment as part of a simple mental recharge routine during the workday. The Recharging Your Mind collection features diverse content and formats to appeal to diverse employee populations and can be woven into existing workplace recovery and mental health support strategies for on-site, hybrid, and remote teams. The pack features the following programs:
- Morning Coffee (10 music tracks of different lengths)
Grab your morning beverage of choice and enjoy music that’s been hand selected to help get you into a peaceful workflow first thing in the morning and prime your mind for focused mental performance. - Starting Off on the Right Foot (quick meditation) – Chibs Okereke
In this ~5-minute meditation, stress and burnout coach Chibs Okereke guides you to use your breath to relax your body, sharpen your focus, and build resilience. - Quieting the Mind (daily move) – Mel Mah
The average person has more than 6,000 thoughts a day, but there’s a way to stop the “topic hop,” says Mel Mah, yoga and meditation instructor. In this seven-minute movement, she helps you connect with your body and spend less time lost in the chaos of your mind. - Breathe into Relaxation (breathing exercise) – Jay Shetty
In three minutes, Shetty helps you quiet your mind and ease your body by extending your breaths. It’s an antidote to feeling stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed. Jay Shetty is a former monk, best-selling author, and award-winning podcast host of On Purpose. - Afternoon Pick-Me-Up (9 music tracks of different lengths, for a total of 1 hr 51 min)
Say goodbye to the 3 p.m. slump with these soothing focus tracks that revitalize your mind. Use this playlist as a gentle workplace recovery tool when energy dips late in the day. - 60-Second Reboot (quick meditation) – Chibs Okereke
This mini-meditation will help you reboot when you’re feeling frantic. - Rain on Leaves (soundscape)
Step into the soothing atmosphere of rain falling on leaves. - Quieting the Mind and Body (sleep meditation) – Prof. Megan Reitz
Megan Reitz helps you relax your body and settle your mind so you can drift off into sleep. Reitz is a professor of leadership and dialogue at Hult International Business School, where she speaks, does research, and consults on the intersection of leadership, change, dialogue, and mindfulness. - Extreme Sleeps: Mt. Everest (Sleep Story) – Anna Acton
Find slumber in a most unlikely place: the highest mountain in the world. Narrated by British actress Anna Acton. - Infinite Piano for Sleep (music)
Calm’s generative music is designed and created by real musicians but built to play infinitely and be ever-changing. Click “Play” once and enjoy unique music for as long as you wish.
In honor of World Mental Health Day, connect with your workforce on the importance of recharging their mental batteries for stronger mental performance and sustainable productivity. It’s a simple way to support employee well-being and initiate the discussion about mental health without triggering the stigma often attached to it. Encourage employees to try a program or two and see how they feel. Try a few yourself and share your experience. When leaders model these brief mental recharge moments, it signals that workplace recovery is valued and encourages employees to use their mental health tools.
