It is very easy to fall into bad habits when using a computer for hours on end. You care about what you are doing, so can sometimes push yourself too far, or over-strain yourself. The human body isn’t built to sit in one position for endless hours, gripping a mouse or typing on the keyboard. Dejal Time Out is here to help. It will gently remind you to take a break on a regular basis.

Customizable Breaks
Time Out comes with two kinds of breaks: a “Normal” break, typically for 10 minutes every hour, so you can move about and relax, plus a “Micro” break: a very brief pause of typically 15 seconds every 15 minutes, so you can remember not to tense up too much for long periods. You can change, disable or remove either kind of break if desired, and add new kinds of breaks, e.g. fixed lunch or afternoon breaks.

You can configure how long each kind of break lasts, and how long between breaks, and the breaks can be set to count backward when you take a natural break, e.g. when you go away from your computer.

Choose Your Theme
When a break starts, the screen slowly dims, and a break theme appears. When the break is complete, it fades out again. Version 2 includes several break themes to choose from. The themes use web standards like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and can be local web apps or remote websites. So if you’re comfortable editing websites, you could edit the existing themes, or make your own. Or check out the Time Out Extras page for contributions from others.

While in a break, a progress bar shows how long till it is over, and optional buttons are available to postpone or skip the break if you can’t be interrupted right then.

Perform Actions
If you wish, you can have Time Out perform various actions before, during or after a break. For example, display a notification, speak some text, play a sound, and even run an Automator workflow or AppleScript. So you can have it notify you shortly before the break is due, then pause Music and play a short soothing piece of music or repeating sound at the start of a break, then fade it out and resume Music when the break is over. Some useful scripts are provided built-in, plus updates and user-submitted ones available on the Time Out Extras page.

Track Activity
Time Out can optionally track breaks and/or app usage via the Activity feature. Get a feel for how busy you are via a chart of breaks you’ve taken, apps you’ve used, and time away from the Mac. Zoom in to see more detail, or out for the big picture.