Lunch break

Our lunch break

We eagerly await it after a busy morning at work. The lunch break! Whether you spend all your time in an office typing away on keyboards or doing physically demanding manual labor; the break is important. Many of us struggle to use the break to relax and switch off. Some even go so far as to prefer working through the entire day in exchange for getting home a little earlier. Why the lunch break is so important for you and how you can make your lunch break better, we tell you now!

I don’t need a lunch break! Do you?

It doesn’t matter if you spend all your time in an office looking at a computer screen and typing away on a keyboard, or if you do manual, physically demanding work; your lunch break is important! There’s a reason there’s a legal requirement for employees to take a break. This is obligatory for all those who have a longer working time than 6 hours at a stretch and, depending on the employer, amounts to around 30-60 minutes. 30 minutes is the absolute minimum! You should really accept this minimum, because your body needs a breather in order to continue to work productively and with concentration. Even with physical work, you should give your muscles a break so that they can recover and the risk of injury is reduced.

Clear your head

The primary purpose of the break is to give your mind a rest and free you from work for the duration of the lunch break. Too often, however, we mentally continue working or mentally rush into other areas of life to continue completing our tasks. This is neither healthy for your mind nor for your body, and in the long run it can wear you out and in the worst case lead to burn out. We’ll show you how you can switch off better so that your lunch break really serves to relax and unwind.

Cell phone off!

Most of us reach for our cell phones at the beginning of our lunch break. Maybe you’re even reading this post right now from your phone on your lunch break? This is not reprehensible, but it is counterproductive to clearing your mind. By using your cell phone and literally working through the messages you’ve received, calls you’ve missed, and taking care of your social media channels, your mind continues to be confronted with an enormous flood of impressions and receives a bunch of data and information that it has to process and thus can’t rest. That’s not the point! Therefore, set a short time interval by briefly checking your most important points and then turn off your phone. 5 minutes is enough to write a message to your friends with the words “Contact me after work! That way you won’t skip any of your friends and no one will feel offended.

Every step makes you fit!

Give yourself a dose of fresh air! Nothing does a full head of hair better than a breath of fresh air. So consider spending your lunch break outdoors. It’ll give your body fresh oxygen and a chance to escape the stale office air. Go for a walk around the block or, if you have the opportunity, sit in a park and enjoy nature. Just take a relaxed look at the area or take a small notebook with you to scribble a few pointless things on the paper. You should refrain from reading books during your lunch break, as your head is also just rattling and has to process the information imparted. You can also take a small yoga mat or a towel with you and lie down on a grassy area and close your eyes for a few minutes. This will help your eyes to relax and not constantly pass on new stimuli to your brain. A small alarm clock can help to remind you in time of the end of your lunch break or to get you out of sleep in case of an emergency. And you can go on motivated.

Grasping food

Food intake is especially important for the lunch break. Your body needs the nutrients to continue to function fully. It doesn’t matter if you eat in the cafeteria or outside. However, you should make sure that you eat high quality food. Even if it is very convenient, you should stay away from fast food chains. The meals there are often very greasy and difficult to digest, which can be hard on your stomach afterwards and leave you feeling exhausted rather than energized for the rest of the working day. If you don’t feel like eating in the canteen, or if your workplace doesn’t have one, you can combine this situation with a walk to get your dose of fresh air. If the weather is nice, you can even have a quick picnic in the park by yourself.

Your own bubble

On your lunch break, focus on yourself and metaphorically get into your own little bubble. Even conversations, as nice as your colleagues may be, means a new flood of information for your body to process. Again, you can skillfully remove yourself without offending your colleagues. Say honestly that you’re going to get something to eat outside and want to leave now so you don’t get stressed. You could also offer to bring something with you. The main thing is that you are undisturbed. You can also think about getting some relaxation music to listen to during your lunch break. Music has a tremendous effect on our psyche and influences it significantly. Short relaxation videos can also be a great help. After all, what puts you in a good mood faster, which you can hardly escape, than music – right?