With lunch breaks becoming shorter and shorter in today’s office culture, it’s more important than ever to make the most out of our lunch break. Simply eating at our desks for lunch is not sufficient, and here are 5 reasons why.
#1: Brain Breaks!
Staring at our computer monitors during lunch is not helpful and can be mentally exhausting. We may feel that by eating lunch at our desk we will gain an edge on our work, but this perceived gain is very short-term and could easily backfire by leaving us drowsy for the rest of the afternoon. We’ve likely worked hard for 4 hours to get to lunch, so let’s give our brain the break it needs!
#2: Creativity and Productivity
Not only should we not eat lunch at our desks, we should try to eat our lunch outside when we can. Studies have proven that eating lunch by your desk is detrimental to creative thinking. On the flip side, studies show that by sitting in green spaces and even viewing a park from an office window can have restorative effects and help improve attention fatigue and quicken stress recovery.
#3: It’s a Mess
This is probably the most obvious but overlooked aspect of eating lunch right by our workstations. Simply put, lunch can be messy and we often overestimate how carefully we eat. At our desk there are many important things we don’t want to spill drop food crumbs on, especially our keyboards.
#4: More Prone to Office Snacking
If we take frequent lunches by our desk, this can also lead to snacking habits and with even messier foods such as cookies and chips. If we give ourselves the green light to eat our lunch by our desks, psychologically we might want to eat more throughout the day and this can lead to overeating at work. Office snacks can be fine, we just should just try to keep them away from our workstations.
#5: Work-Life Balance
We all know how important work-life balance is for our mental health. By sitting at our desks all day, staring at our computer monitor throughout, we create imbalance. We could also be missing out on important lunchtime activities, such as breathing fresh air, giving our bodies some sunshine, socializing with other coworkers, and giving our brains the rest they deserve!
Sources:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229628
http://mentalfloss.com/article/62873/science-why-you-shouldnt-eat-your-desk
