![]() Its tray menu option is captioned "Skip to the next", and lets you skip to the next mini or long break. There are two ways to delay a break in Stretchly, the first of which is a temporary one. This may seem counter-intuitive, but it can be handy when you have a meeting or a video call to participate in. ![]() Stretchly lets you postpone all breaks, which allows you to skip a break when necessary. Some people may prefer to delay things to focus to something that requires your immediate attention. The timers are customizable, so you can set a custom break duration, the start time, and also toggle the notification pop-up. Head to the Schedule tab to toggle one of them off if required. Both reminders are enabled by default, i.e., Mini and Long Breaks. You can dismiss a break by clicking the Skip Break button, or by using the hotkey Ctrl + X. The program does not allow you to pick a custom audio for the notifications, but has 3 sounds to choose from. A sound is played at the end of a timer to indicate that the break has ended. Besides the timer, it also displays a suggestion for what you can do during a break, like closing your eyes to relax. When the break timer is triggered, a reminder window pops-up on the screen. Use it to take a stroll, listen to some music, or unwind with some other activity of your choice. Long Breaks occur once every half an hour, and run for 5 minutes. The reminder for it pops-up once every 10 minutes, and the app will display a notification, about 10 seconds before the break starts. The Mini Break as the name suggests is the shorter one of the two, and sets a 20-second timer for you to take a breather. The program offers 2 kinds of reminders Mini Breaks and Long Breaks. Stretchly runs in the background, and can be accessed from the system tray via a right-click. You can install the app, or use the portable version, they're identical in terms of functionality. Stretchly can help, it is a timer program that reminds you when to take a break. Just walking away from your workstation for a few minutes can help take your mind off of things, and when you come back you will feel more relaxed.Ī lot of people aren't used to this practice. ![]() Take a look.Instead of working continuously for hours, splitting the task into smaller chunks makes it a lot easier to handle. The idea of taking frequent, very short "microbreaks" makes a lot of sense it's good to see the program offer different suggestions for each one (not the same old alert screen) and stretchly manages to be very configurable without also being complex. We've seen plenty of similar applications, but Stretchly stands out in several ways. (It's just a regular Windows application, there's no background Windows service or anything else to get in your way.) Verdict: If the program is still annoying, you can pause the break reminders for a period, or close the program and work as usual. You're able to set the length of breaks and microbreaks, how frequently they should happen, whether you're forced to have them or they can be skipped, and whether they're enabled at all (you could have breaks only and ignore microbreaks, for instance). These timings can be reconfigured from a Settings dialog. It'll restart its timer and you won't get an annoying alert 10 seconds after you've sat back down. If you've just taken a "microbreak" of your own - grabbed a coffee, walked to the printer - you can tell the program to skip to the next microbreak. This might be a suggestion to focus your eyes on something distant, stand up and stretch your arms, or you might get a thoughtful comment on the value of mindfulness.Īfter a couple of microbreaks you're prompted to take a longer break, maybe 5 or 10 minutes. Instead it adds an icon to your system tray and leaves you to work as normal.Īfter 10 minutes (by default) the program displays a message with an idea for a 20-second "microbreak". Stretchly is designed to be easy to use, so doesn't open with a bulky scheduling dialog. But you've probably got enough space for it somewhere, and at least it doesn't require installation: you can unzip it and go. Like all Electron-based programs, Stretchly is huge (134MB). Stretchly is an open-source tool which reminds you to take regular breaks from your computer (Windows, Linux, Mac).
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