In March 2021, Microsoft’s Human Factors Lab had 14 people wear EEG caps during video meetings. On one day they had four half-hour meetings back to back. On another day, the same four meetings were separated by 10-minute breaks, which the participants spent meditating.
Without breaks, brain activity linked to stress built up over the two hours. With breaks, it stayed steady. Microsoft published the results on April 20, 2021: “The antidote to meeting fatigue is simple: taking short breaks.”