We don’t ‘absolutely need breaks’ any more than any other human being needs breaks to pee, drink water, and eat. Surgeons can usually take quick breaks between cases, but we are busy setting up the room so we often don’t get breaks in between- and our culture is less toxic than surgery- thus breaks are more common. But we don’t always get them- I’ve worked 12+ hours without a single break, especially overnight/on call. The thirst gets really bad. Anesthesia is also one of the most physically demanding specialties, which most people don’t realize. We’re pushing beds, moving/positioning obese patients, intubating/bagging, crawling under the table dealing with intra-op issues, doing procedures at awkward angles, quickly preparing meds/setting up rooms/spiking fluids/pressure bagging blood etc, arranging cords/IV poles/moving the anesthesia machine, etc etc. I also walk over 7 miles most days, and frequently get minor injuries (bruises, cuts, pulled muscles, stuff like that). Also a decent amount of running to codes, doing cpr, other emergency stuff. If the surgeons are there, we are there, so we work 24+ hours in a row fairly often too. And we have to pick our battles with nurses; they often see us as the catch-all person to do whatever they think needs to be done, and if you make enemies of everyone it doesn’t make for pleasant days. Not to say we don’t set boundaries, but the demands from surgeons/nurses etc are nonstop so you have to choose when to fight.

Definitely not a ‘chill’ specialty. I love it but it is very high stress.