The 20-20-20 rule for screen work
Long stretches of close-up screen work can leave eyes feeling tired. A habit often recommended by eye-care professionals is the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something about 20 feet (6 metres) away for 20 seconds. To follow it:
- Start the 20 minute timer when you sit down to work.
- When the alarm rings, look out of a window or across the room and count slowly to 20.
- Press Start again for the next 20 minutes.
The timer keeps exact time in a background tab, so you can leave it running behind your work. The tab title shows the minutes left.
Short naps
Naps of around 10 to 20 minutes are often suggested for a quick boost, because waking from a longer, deeper sleep can leave you groggy. Set the timer, keep the volume up so the alarm wakes you, and on a phone keep the page open with the screen on. Everyone is different, so treat this as a starting point.
Reading and practice
Many schools and reading programmes encourage children to read for about 20 minutes a day. The same block works for practising an instrument, learning vocabulary or revising a topic. Over a week, 20 minutes a day adds up to 7 × 20 = 140 minutes, or 2 hours 20 minutes.
Workouts
Twenty minutes is long enough for a complete short workout: for example, a 3-minute warm-up, 14 minutes of intervals and a 3-minute cool-down (3 + 14 + 3 = 20).
How the timer works
Start, Pause and Reset respond instantly, and +1 min adds time on the fly. The alarm can be muted, and phones that support it vibrate. The screen stays on while the timer runs where supported, and it works offline once loaded. Nearby lengths: the 15 minute timer and the 25 minute timer for Pomodoro sessions.