As our work gets busier, many of us resort to eating an office lunch at our desks. Here are 10 reasons why eating at your desk is a BAD idea.
1. Your Boss Will Find You
When I used to eat my office lunch at my desk or the lunch room, I would often be the only person who didn’t go out for lunch. So when the manager would go around looking for someone to give work to, guess who they found? Just me! So I would get interrupted regularly end up with a lot of extra work.
I soon learned to take my lunch out to a nearby park so I couldn’t be found at lunch.
2. Mental Break
We focus more intensely when we take regular breaks from our work. But if you are sitting at your work desk at lunch, you aren’t really mentally leaving work.
You need to leave your office to convince your brain to fully disconnect from thinking about work. This mental break will refresh you so you get more done when you go back to work.
3. Exercise
Let’s face it. Sitting is killing us. Your body is built to move – let it move.
You are already sitting most of your day in the office, so why sit during an office lunch as well? Taking a walk at lunch makes sure you get some exercise instead of just sitting in the same place where you work all day.
4. Office Social Connections
Going out for lunch with colleagues or staff from other departments helps you build relationships and bond more fully with your team. These relationships help when you might need help from them later.
5. Keyboard Crumbs and Spills
While coffee does a great job of getting me going in the morning, spilling coffee on my keyboard didn’t make my keyboard work better at all! Instead, it died, having a negative impact in my productivity as I had to go out and buy a new keyboard.
Liquids and crumbs aren’t good for computers, keyboards and mice, so keeping food away from your work space makes sense.
6. Strengthen Friendships
With our busy lives, It seems harder and harder to find time to connect with friends.
Why not use 1 lunch time a week to re-connect with a different friend or acquaintance? This will give you much-needed social interaction and gets you out of the office for a nice break.
And it helps strengthen your friendships so they last for years.
7. Community
Walking around your community at lunch can really help you connect with what is going on in your community. When I worked in downtown Edmonton, there were lots of great local events at lunch like live music, street performers, etc. And many of these had different food choices than what were offered in the local restaurants.
8. Food Trucks
The growing food truck trend means that you aren’t just limited to local restaurants where it might take a long time to get served.
Instead you have a wide range of unusual food offerings that are quick and fast and you can walk to a nearby park or seating area to relax and eat.
9. Better Digestion
Walking at lunch isn’t just good for exercise, it is proven to help your digestion. So walking and moving after your week gives you a much better “gut feeling.” 🙂
10. Errand Efficiency
Do you find you are rushed after work on on the weekends trying to do all your personal errands? Use your lunch hours to take care of as many of these errands as possible so your off time is more relaxed.
Lunches are a great time to:
- do shopping
- pay bills
- make calls
- do research
- do any errands you can do while away from home
If you enjoyed these office lunch tips, please share them with others.
Enjoy your extra time, courtesy of Garland Coulson, “Captain Time”
