Growing up, I was a very curious person, and whenever I would inquire about my parents’ childhood, it would always revolve around their life in school. 

My parents are from India, and back then, they would have to wear school uniforms and wake up at around 6:00 am to get ready for school. But, what baffled me the most was when I found out that weekends were only one day and summer breaks were only a month. 

Comparing that to nowadays makes me thankful for the two-day weekends and three-month breaks that we have, but within the last couple of years, I’ve come to realize that having longer weekends might actually be more beneficial for students.

From the age of five, we are encouraged to follow the same old monotonous routine: spending nine months of the year going to school for seven hours a day for five days a week. This is with a few breaks sprinkled throughout the year. This process repeats again and again for an entire decade.

As far as I know, every state in the US has a two-day weekend starting on Saturday and ending on Sunday. 

They say “life is all about balance,” yet the majority of our week is spent either at school or work, leaving us with only 48 hours of free time. Luckily, if you are reading this during the week that it’s posted, then you have caught me during a four-day week, which is something that I think should be implemented more often.

With any weekend, we have the time to reflect on the past week and soak up what’s left of it before moving on. With longer weekends, we would not only be given more time but also are even closer to that benchmark of “balance” in our life: three out of seven days instead of two.

Whether you are a student or an employer, a longer break here and there wouldn’t be that bad; students and those with jobs would have to work fewer hours, and in the long run, it would boost morale and happiness, while reducing stress levels. 

Despite the fact that four-day work weeks aren’t a regular routine, this hasn’t stopped countries from trialing it within their area. In countries such as Belgium, instead of working eight-hour shifts five days a week, they work ten-hour shifts four days a week following their 4/10 plan. This allows them to have the same income as before and be completely cut off from work once the weekend starts. 

Although this does mean longer shifts, workers have overall been less anxious and find that work/life balance easier to maintain; but, this isn’t always the case everywhere.  

For example, in Sweden, six-hour work days were tested, and the results were the same: employees were content and less overwhelmed, but more employers had to be recruited for the amount of time that was lost. 

Obviously, these are only just a couple of countries that have implemented this policy into their workplace, but as more areas around the world are becoming aware of this, my hope is that it starts to become a weekly thing. 

We’ve come a long way with being able to create more breaks within the year, but if we had more effective ways of implementing them, it would improve the environment and character of everyone within the workforce.