Can having a short break help improve at Go?
Yes, it CAN. There is no warranty that a short break will improve your Go, but it can help. Take a typical vacation (about two weeks) as a good measure for the time.

The probably best recipe for improving Go is quite to the contrary: Do every day something with Go, 10 minutes per day are sufficient (e.g., solving a life and death problem or finding a tesuji).

Personally, I found the playing over-the-board tournaments (being immersed with Go one weekend long) helps a lot.