Taking Productive Lunch Breaks

Want to make your lunch breaks more productive? Try these ideas!

Stretch your legs.

Get outside and take a walk. It will improve your circulation and expose you to sunlight and vitamin D, which boosts your immune system and metabolism.

Build a relationship.

Connect with your mentor and invite him/her out to lunch – she/he needs to eat, too – or ask a friend if they’d be interested in meeting up for a mid-day break.

Find your focus.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the health benefits of meditation include lowering blood pressure and warding off heart disease and depression. It’s also a convenient, cheap way to decrease stress.

Take up a new hobby.

You’ve been meaning to learn to knit, and you always wanted to master Spanish. Lunch is as good a time as any to fully realize your side talents.

Read

Finish up your book club book or pore over the newspaper. Reading is another leisure activity that will still keep your brain active during the break from work.

Call your mother.

Or your dad, a good friend or your spouse. Catching up with a confidante is a great way to blow off some steam and renew energy for the remainder of the day.

Listen to music.

You can’t listen to your tunes as loud as you’d like to in the office, but you only have your own eardrums to offend if you rock your playlist during the break.

Eat lunch.

Take the nature of this break literally, and actually eat something. Frequent a local hangout or find a nice outside vista and enjoy your food away from the demands of your job.

– Jada A. Grave