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Mac OS X Break Reminder

Monitoring your Mouse & Keyboard Use

Rest breaks are most effective when they are taken at regular intervals depending on how much you actually work.

This is why MacBreakZ monitors your actual work on the computer and triggers breaks according to you actual activity level.

MacBreakZ automatically detects when you take unprompted breaks and adapts its break schedule accordingly.

Preparing you for your Rest Break

Nobody likes to be interrupted in the middle of a task. Unfortunately it is during those periods of long, concentrated work that we do the most damage to our body.

MacBreakZ helps you by gently reminding you to take that rest break.

When you are prompted to take a break, you have the option to delay for a few minutes.

You can also ask MacBreakZ to play a song (mp3) or a simple sound a few minutes before the rest break is due. This gives you time to leave your work in a convenient place.

If you know that you cannot trust yourself to take the break, you can ask MacBreakZ to enforce the break for you.

Making the Best of your Rest Break

The best way of giving your body an opportunity to recover from the static posture it is forced into all day, is to perform a few easy stretches.

MacBreakZ provides a whole series of easy-to-follow and highly effective stretching exercises that you can perform right at your desk (or anywhere else you want to).

Once you have stretched a bit you should go and move around for a moment.

Microbreaks

Our hands, wrists and fingers are particularly sensitive to repetitive strain injuries when we continually use input devices at high intensity.

MacBreakZ is designed to recognize these high risk situations and remind us to take short, so called "micropauses". These are short 2-30 second breaks.

Taking microbreaks has been shown to be highly effective in prevent RSI.

Learning to Help Yourself

MacBreakZ contains an extensive set of everyday ergonomic tips, designed to allow you to spot problems and find solutions yourself.

These tips include advice on:

  • working posture
  • typing technique
  • mouse technique
  • input devices
  • seating
  • desks
  • work practices
  • general ergonomic facts
  • etc.

Everybody is Different

It is up to you to discover the most effective way of combining healthy work practices with your own working life.

MacBreakZ helps you to achieve this by providing what MacWorld's Terri Stone called "an impressive number of customization options".

When you first launch the tool, the Setup Assistant helps you to choose the right settings according to your current health status, your personal preferences, your work environment and your personal goals.

After the initial setup you can use the Settings Dialog to customize the tool ever closer

Support for Behavior Modification

It can sometimes be difficult to adapt to a new break schedule.

That's why MacBreakZ offers the possibility to slowly change its break schedule over time

You can, for instance, go from a 5 minute break every 2 hours to a 10 minute break every hour over a period of 60 days with the adaptation mode feature.