5-minute break
The 5-minute break is DoppiNow's built-in pause. One tap stops reminders for five minutes and freezes your combo, so resting costs you nothing. When the break ends, you get a fresh grace period.
Last updated
Key facts
- Category
- Time
- Where to find it
- Always available. The length is fixed at 5 minutes.
- Availability
- In the DoppiNow Chrome extension: a 7-day free trial, then $3.99/month or $29.99/year. Desktop Chrome 120 or newer (other Chromium browsers such as Edge or Brave may also work).
- Status
- Available now.
How it works
One tap
“5 min break” in the popup or on the reminder card.
Quiet
No reminders and no doorway pauses for 5 minutes.
Combo frozen
Your combo freezes and nothing is lost. The badge says “rest” in purple.
A fresh start
“I’m ready” ends it early. Then a fresh grace period starts. A timed session’s clock keeps running.
All the details
Start a break with "5 min break" in the popup or on the reminder card.
During the break, there are no reminders (any open reminder card closes on every tab) and no doorway pauses. You earn no focus XP, not even a comeback bonus, and your combo is frozen. The badge says "rest" in purple, and the scene shows its rest mood.
The popup shows "Break · 4:59" with "I'm ready" to end the break early. It also lists what you parked this session, and the tiny-step line waits.
After the break, a fresh grace period starts before any reminder.
A timed session's clock keeps running during a break.
Settings: Always available. The length is fixed at 5 minutes.
Why it helps with ADHD
In a meta-analysis of 22 samples (N = 2,335), micro-breaks of 10 minutes or less increased vigour (d =.36) and reduced fatigue (d =.35). The effect on overall performance wasn't significant (Albulescu et al. 2022). Barkley recommends "taking 10 minute breaks periodically" (Barkley).
No study has tested DoppiNow itself. DoppiNow is a productivity tool, not a treatment for ADHD.
Sources
- Albulescu, P., Macsinga, I., Rusu, A., Sulea, C., Bodnaru, A., & Tulbure, B. T. (2022). "Give me a break!" A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of micro-breaks for increasing well-being and performance. PLOS ONE, 17(8), e0272460. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272460
- Barkley, R. A. (n.d.). The important role of executive functioning and self-regulation in ADHD [Fact sheet]. www.russellbarkley.org/factsheets/ADHD_EF_and_SR.pdf
5-minute break: common questions
Does the session timer stop during a break?
No. A timed session keeps counting down. The break pauses reminders, XP and your combo.
Can I end a break early?
Yes. Press "I'm ready" in the popup.
Related features
Combo multiplier
Unbroken focus raises your XP multiplier from x1 to x5, and drifting melts it slowly.
Park it
Save a stray thought or tab for later in one move, then go straight back to your goal.
Gentle nudge
When you drift, a calm card in the corner shows what happened, and one tap brings you back.
Auto-pause
Time spent in another app or behind a locked screen never counts as drifting.
Keep reading
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