
The Benefits of taking a lunch break to your mental and emotional health might not immediately seem obvious. When we are hard at work and in the middle of what we are doing, sometimes the last thing we want to do is stop, eat, get distracted and lose the flow of what we are doing.
- Helping you to processes information and remember it.
- Helping you to step back from what you are doing and getting too enmeshed in the detail, taking a break helps you to see the bigger picture.
- Helps you to be more creative, if you are overtired, you don’t think clearly and have less energy.
- Having fewer aches and pains and energy. Sitting for long periods of time can make you stiff and tired. Getting up and moving around will mean you are stretching more and are more flexible.
- Help you to create healthy habits, for instance eating properly, exercising, sleeping. Taking a lunch break will help you to make these habits a natural part of your day.
- If you are in front of a screen for much of the day taking breaks will help with fatigue and eye strain
- Help you to be more productive. If you schedule breaks you will be working towards mini deadlines which will motivate you to get tasks completed rather than allowing them to continue throughout the day.
How can you use your lunchbreak to take a break?
Below are some thoughts on how you can use your lunchbreak to take a break:
- Be mindful about what you are going to eat. Consider bringing a packed lunch or plan where you will go for lunch. This is to ensure that you are not snacking mindlessly on food that isn’t nutritious.
- Go for a short walk
- Bring food with you so that you can find a spot to eat while you are out (weather permitting) It will also mean that you don’t spend time in queues waiting to buy food.
- Alternatively, you might want to go out to eat, meet a friend, have a chat with people you know.
- Read a book for 20 minutes or listen to a podcast or music.
- If you have enough time pop to the gym for half an hour.
- Take a look at what is happening close to where you work, are there any events, exhibitions, galleries or places of interest you could pop to.
- Drink a glass of water. Staying hydrated is incredibly important having times when you intentionally drink is useful. Please take a look at our blog Keeping Hydrated for Better Mental Health
Working from home and taking a lunch break
In the past couple of years with the pandemic many more of us have been working from home, this means that we are more individually in charge of our working day and when we take breaks. Here are some tips for taking a lunch break when you work from home.
- Plan your day and when you are going to have breaks. Plan the time when you are going to have your lunch.
- Make arrangements with colleagues to meet on line at lunch time, either to chat and eat together or just to check in.
- Plan your food as you would if you were going to work. This will mean that you have good food in and are not eating whatever you have in the cupboard.
- Take a walk, listen to music or a podcast, read, watch tv.
- Leave the room that you work in, make sure you have your break somewhere different.
- Call a friend and have a chat.
- Remember to keep hydrated and drink water throughout the day.
Thank you for reading this blog, if you would like to make an appointment with Paul for Counselling, Psychotherapy or Supervision, please call Paul on 07843 813 537 or fill in the form on the Contact Page, if he doesn’t answer he is probably in a session, please leave him a message and he will call you back as soon as he can.