Taking time off from something usually entails losing a bit of your "chops" to frame it as a musical metaphor. But losing your chops isn't the main issue with programming. The main skill needed is good, logical thinking.

Since so much of programming is "good thinking", taking time off can let your mind ponder the bigger picture and let you solve problems more elegantly.

How many of us have sat at our terminals trying to force a solution to a problem by brute force coding....and then finally walked away, only to solve the problem in our mind while taking a shower?