First finished session starts the streak.
One rest day a week does not break the chain.
Online Break Timer
Pick a work and break time, and it loops until you pause.
Starting the timer. If this line stays put, the script did not run.
Click anywhere to pause or resume. Esc to exit.
Timer Rhythms
Tasks
Nothing here yet.
Time is up
Set reminder
Static posture is what wears a body down, not screens on their own. Even perfectly ergonomic sitting does not fix a body that never moves, which is why taking timely breaks matters.
The evidence for stepping away
A break is not a reward for finishing something. It is the moment your circulation catches up. The neck, shoulders, forearms and lower back hold one prolonged position, blood flow through them drops, and the low level tension that builds turns into stiffness.
A 2022 systematic review and analysis of micro breaks found small, reliable gains in vigor and reductions in fatigue, with longer breaks helping more than very short ones. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety suggests a 5 to 10 minute break for every hour at a workstation, and OSHA’s computer workstation guidance recommends short, frequent pauses to change posture and rest the eyes.
How long to work, and how long to break
There is no single correct interval, and the available presets are just the popular, sensible ones. None of them run past 90 minutes, because of the increased health cost. The exact work-to-rest ratio matters less than not staying planted too long. Pick or create a rhythm you won’t override very often.
Time at the desk
Time on break
What a good break looks like
A break spent scrolling your phone rests your body about as much as the work does. To get more of the benefit it has to involve activity.
Breaks are only half of it
A timer sorts out when you move. These three sort out what you are sitting in the rest of the time.
Questions people ask
Does the reminder keep running in the background or another tab?
Yes, on a computer. It keeps counting while the tab is open anywhere in your browser, even when it sits in the background or behind other windows. What it cannot do is run once the browser is fully closed. To be alerted while you are working in another app, open Settings and turn on browser notifications. After you allow them once, the tool pops a desktop notification each time a focus or break period ends, when the 20-20-20 eye nudge is due, and when a reminder you set finishes. Phones are stricter: the browser pauses the page as soon as you switch apps or lock the screen, so keep the timer open on screen. While it runs, it stops your screen from going to sleep.
Is my data private?
Your rhythm, tasks, streak and reminder settings are saved only in your own browser, using local storage. Nothing is sent to a server.
How often should you take a break from the computer?
A widely used baseline, from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, is a 5 to 10 minute break for every hour at a workstation, so across a typical 8 hour day that is roughly seven or eight proper breaks. Layer two smaller habits on top: a quick eye break every 20 minutes, and a change of posture or a short stand every half hour, since sitting in unbroken stretches under 30 minutes is linked to better outcomes. The precise numbers matter less than never sitting locked in for hours at a time.
How long should each break be?
For physical health the target is about ten minutes of movement an hour; in a 2023 Columbia University trial, a five-minute walk every half hour was the only pattern that lowered both blood sugar and blood pressure. For focus it runs longer and less often, closer to a seventeen-minute step away after a solid block of work, so attention has time to recover. For your spine and joints it is less about one long break and more about not holding a position too long, so a couple of minutes moving plus some standing every half hour keeps blood from pooling and takes load off your back. In every case the length matters less than the movement, and a break that just swaps your work screen for your phone barely counts.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It is a browser based break timer and reminder, with nothing to download or sign up for, and once the page has loaded it keeps working offline. It is also light on resources, a single page with no heavy frameworks or background downloads, so it barely touches your CPU, and you can switch off the drifting background in Settings if you want it lighter still.
Can it remind me to rest my eyes, stretch, or drink water?
To follow the 20-20-20 rule for your eyes, just toggle it on at the bottom of the Rhythms card. For anything else you want running alongside the timer, use the “Set reminder” box: set a one off nudge, add a note so you remember what it was for, and pick its sound in Settings.
Sources
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety: rest breaks and workstation stretching.
OSHA: computer workstations, work process and breaks.
American Optometric Association: computer vision syndrome and the 20-20-20 rule.
Albulescu et al. (2022), PLOS ONE: meta analysis on the efficacy of micro breaks.
World Health Organization (2020): guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour.
Diaz et al. (2017), Annals of Internal Medicine: sitting bout length and mortality in U.S. adults.
Carter et al. (2018), Journal of Applied Physiology: walking breaks and cerebral blood flow during prolonged sitting.
Duran et al. (2023), Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: how often and how long to walk to offset sitting.
Cornell University Ergonomics: sit stand programs (Alan Hedge).
DeskTime: productivity research behind the 52 / 17 pattern.
This timer is not a medical device and no rhythm here is a prescription. If something already hurts, a doctor, physical therapist, or qualified ergonomics professional is the right next step.