Make it a ritual. I work in one of the Nordic countries and I see even the most productive developers dropping their jobs at 12 to have a lunch and a chat. We

Make it a ritual. I work in one of the Nordic countries and I see even the most productive developers dropping their jobs at 12 to have a lunch and a chat. We all do it and when we come back, my output is noticeably better. Another thing I've found helpful is to define a few activities I should do in my break to avoid getting sucked in by the urgency of work. These include drinking water, chatting with people and letting my mind roam without judgment for a few minutes. Funnily enough, the biggest problem with taking breaks is the guilt of feeling that time is being wasted. What I've found however is that I've had a large amount of very useful discussions during breaks. Same with generating ideas about how to solve new problems.