March 11, 2016

Time to Lunch-Out, Your Desk Won’t Miss You

Push10 team laughing at party

Spending too much time together can be unhealthy for any relationship. It’s time for you and your desk to take a little break — why not over lunch.

Studies have shown that busy bees and overachievers who eat lunch at their desks are more likely to suffer from negative side effects. Here at Push10, we’ve decided to adopt this new healthy lifestyle at work of eating lunch away from our desks. Don’t believe us? Check out this list we’ve put together that illustrates the benefits of getting up from your desk:

1. Mindless Eating

When you spend your lunch break eating at your desk you’re more likely to not pay attention to what you’re eating, which leads to mindless uncontrolled eating. Your health is important and eating right is one of the first steps in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Don’t let yourself become a mindless zombie in a feeding frenzy. Also, stress eating is real, don’t let it take over.

2. You Become Less Creative

Eating lunch at your desk instead of using your break to spend some time out of your chair and away from the computer screen can have negative effects on your ability to think straight. Your brain and attention span can take a serious hit and can make the rest of your workday all the more difficult.

3. Sitting Too Long Isn’t Healthy

Spending eight hours a day sitting in the same position and staring at a computer screen can have negative effects on your physical and mental health. By going out or even just relocating to another room for lunch you can increase your activity for the day and keep your blood pumping.

4. Less Socializing

Taking a lunch break away from your desk and moving to a break area allows for more social interaction with co-workers. Team building is important in businesses and carving out time during the day to have conversations and relax with your co-workers can really strengthen the team dynamic.

5. Fresh Air

Fresh air will always do you some good! Get up out of the office (even if it’s just for 5 minutes) and go breathe in some fresh air and feel the breezes. It might just be the quick refresher you need.

6. Causes More Stress

By not taking some time to relax and clear your head you could only be adding to your overall stress level. It’s important to take time for yourself during a busy work day and clear out everything in your mind and start fresh after your break. Why not finish your day on a high note?

7. Dirty Keyboard

Let’s face it, no one wants to deal with a sticky keyboard covered in crumbs. Don’t let your lunch sit in the cracks of your keyboard for weeks to come, just get up and eat somewhere else. Also, spilling a drink has been known to kill a keyboard or two.

8. Unbalanced Life

Life is all about balance and time management. Balancing work life and home life can sometimes be challenging but keeping the two separate is essential to a healthy lifestyle. Taking a break during your work day is important to maintaining that balance in your life.

9. Lack Of Outside Inspiration

Inspiration is an important component of creativity. In order to keep your creative juices flowing, you’re going to need inspiration throughout the day. By not taking a break away from your desk you’re giving up the chance to be inspired by the outside world.

10. Your Brain Needs A Break

Your brain is always working overtime to keep you motivated and focused throughout the work day. But sometimes even your brain needs to refuel and rest. So make sure you don’t spend the majority of the day with your brain running on fumes.

Final Thoughts

See what we mean? It shouldn’t be a struggle to take appropriate time for lunch, but you do need to commit. It makes a difference, and it just might make or break your whole day. It’s been about a month since our team made the concerted effort to “lunch-out”, and we’re reaping the benefits. Give it a go, and see how your focus (and mood) changes for the better.

Happy Lunching!