Active Breaks to Improve Workers’ Tense Mood: An Uncontrolled Longitudinal Study

Workplace stress is a prevalent concern in occupational settings. Active breaks (ABs), recognized as brief periods of physical activity interrupting sedentary behaviour during working hours, may represent a possible strategy to enhance workers’ well-being. This study examined associations between daily ABs and workers’ daily strain symptoms, focusing on tense mood, and investigated whether workload, autonomy, and baseline musculoskeletal complaints conditioned these associations. In this four-month uncontrolled longitudinal study, workers had access to three brief AB videos per working day. Daily surveys assessing daily ABs performed, workload, autonomy, and tense mood were administered during the first and final two weeks, whereas adherence was monitored using a self-reported diary throughout the intervention to provide an overview of participation across the four months. Of 92 participants who provided informed consent, 77 initiated the intervention. Among these, 66 provided sufficient daily survey data for correlation and multilevel regression analyses (579 observations), while 37 completed the adherence diary. At the within-person level, days with more ABs were associated with lower tense mood, although this association was moderated by daily workload. At the between-person level, participants with higher average of daily AB engagement reported lower tense mood. Median self-reported adherence during the four months was 50% (IQR: 43%). Overall, greater daily AB engagement was associated with lower tense mood, with this relationship varying according to workload and individual differences.