For some reason, lunch hours feel distinctly shorter than, say, an hour-long meeting or even an hour working at our desks. However, this is often because we aren’t using this time as wisely as we should be!
With that in mind, here are just some of the ways in which you can make better use of your lunch hour!
Stop working through your lunch hour.
No matter how busy you may be, it’s crucial that you actually take a break during your lunch hour, as opposed to eating your lunch at your desk. After all, while it may not seem a major issue, especially when you are juggling multiple deadlines at once, you are given a break for a reason – you need it! For example, studies suggest that most adults struggle to focus for more than 45-50 minutes without taking a break – let alone going the entire day.
In addition to this, without taking a break, you’ll likely notice that your stress levels rise quite considerably. This is because you aren’t being given a chance to relax or decompress, which means that you’ll find it hard to process your emotions (positive or negative).
If you are routinely guilty of working through your lunch break, consider setting an alarm on your phone to remind you to stop working. You should also schedule this into your calendar so that colleagues are also aware of when you’ll be taking your break. This is a great way to hold yourself more accountable and ensure that you are prioritising your needs.
Keep your mind active.
Keeping your mind active, such as by playing a game of spider solitaire, is a great way to ensure you are using your lunch hour productively. Furthermore, studies have found that this can also be a great way to clear your mind and reduce stress by giving you something specific (yet non-work-related) to focus on. This means that upon returning to work, you do so with a clear mind. As such, you’re much more likely to respond proactively to any of the challenges the morning brings.
However, there are many different ways in which you keep your mind active in addition to playing solitaire. For example, you may want to read a few pages of a book or complete a crossword puzzle. As these tasks will not take up the entirety of your lunch break, it may be best to dedicate the last ten to fifteen minutes of your lunch break to these activities.
Eat a balanced lunch.
While this may seem to be somewhat obvious, a recent study has found that
48% of workers skip lunch at least once a week. While there are many different reasons for this, one of the most popular excuses is not having enough time to eat – likely because they are not using the entirety of their lunch break and are instead opting to work through it.
Either way, you should ensure that you are using your lunch break to actually eat your lunch. After all, a healthy, well-balanced meal can help you to get over the
mid-afternoon slump that you’ll inevitably face if you are not nourishing your body correctly. Furthermore, there are many steps you can take to ensure that eating your lunch takes up as little time as possible. For example, you should bring pre-prepared meals or food with you so that you can keep any cooking to the minimum during your actual lunch break. This can also be useful if you’re trying to eat healthier, as you’re less likely to eat out if you’ve brought food with you from home.
Spend time with your colleagues.
Spending quality time with your colleagues during your lunch break can also prove to be useful, providing that you try to steer conversations away from work. After all, this will allow you to form stronger relationships with each other and could even signal the start of a long, meaningful friendship. Beyond this, getting to know each other better often means that you can work together more effectively moving forward.
Go for a short walk.
No matter what kind of role you work in, you’ll likely spend a great deal of time indoors, whether you are working in a busy office or a shop floor. As such, it is crucial that you do not spend the entirety of your break cooped up indoors, even if you want to do nothing more than sit and scroll on your phone!
There are many different reasons for this. For example, walking can help you to increase your daily activity levels while also relieving feelings of stress and anxiety. In short, it can be a great way to reset your day, no matter how tough your morning may have been. In addition to this, studies have found that both fresh air and natural light can help to increase your focus levels, which again could mean that you are better prepared to handle the rest of your work day!
Plan out the rest of your day.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or managing multiple conflicting deadlines, then you may also find it useful to spend the first or last few minutes of your lunch hour putting together a to-do list for the rest of the day. This will make it much easier to stay on track, especially if you then write this down. This is because when we write something down, it’s much more likely to remain at the forefront of our memories.
Furthermore, by planning out the rest of your work day instead of simply going with the flow, you’re more likely to realize when you aren’t going to get everything done. This means that you can then put plans in place to resolve this, whether that means delegating tasks to others or requesting an extension.
Give yourself ten minutes of phone time.
While it’s perfectly normal to want to check your phone during your lunch break, this should not be the only thing that you do. After all, doing so likely means that your lunch break passes in a blur of Instagram posts and text messages, meaning it is nowhere near as restful as it should be.
As such, you need to strike up the balance between checking your phone and replying to messages and giving yourself time to rest and rejuvenate. For example, you should aim to spend no more than ten minutes on your phone. Again, setting an alarm to track this (or to remind you when to put your phone down) could prove useful in this regard. Ideally, you should also leave your work phone at your desk so that you are not tempted to work during your break.
Meditate or practice deep breathing.
Regardless of your current stress levels, spending a few minutes meditating or, at the very least, deep breathing can also become a useful lunch time activity. Again, this can be attributed to the fact that it can help you regulate your emotions, breaking down any stress or anxiety you are facing. This, in turn, means that you are able to work more productively when you return to work, as opposed to returning feeling worse off than when you left!
If you find it hard to get into meditating, especially in a noisy environment such as a break room, try deep breathing instead. This can have the same soothing effects while also being a little easier to fit into your schedule!
Final Thoughts.
If there’s anything you take away from this article, let it be this: while there’s no ‘right’ way to spend your lunch break – there is a wrong one, and that’s working. After all, you deserve a break, even if you are not feeling particularly tired or stressed. Furthermore, while you may feel as though it’s no big deal to eat your sandwich or lunch at your desk, when this becomes part of your routine, you’re putting yourself on the path to burnout.
Instead, try to find more productive or useful ways to spend your lunch break. As evidenced above, there are plenty of options available to you, from meditating and chatting with your colleagues to going for a short walk. If you’re particularly efficient with your time, you may even be able to squeeze in a quick workout!
Either way, the way in which you spend your lunch hour often dictates the way in which your day will go. If you spend it stressed out and frustrated, then your last few hours at work will only become unpleasant. If you use it to rest-up (or get some caffeine into your system), you’ll then feel more focused and positive, which means the remaining hours on the clock will pass by much more quickly.
However, you should always make sure that you eat something during your lunch break – even if you aren’t feeling all that hungry. For example, even healthy snacks such as fruit and nuts can provide you with additional energy to see you through to the evening, and eating something is better than eating nothing at all.