5 Hacks To Make The Most Out Of Your Lunch Breaks

Numerous studies have shown that it's essential to have breaks over the course of a working day to increase productivity and ensure you maintain a good balance between working and resting. But we know that when you’re working from home, it’s easier than you’d think to stay glued to our screens and continue to answer emails and messages. 

The reality is that taking enough time during a lunch break can lead to increased productivity and decrease burnout — meaning it's in you and your company’s best interest to take some well deserved time for yourself. Here are our top tips to make the most of your lunch breaks and for a little R and R. 

1. Step away from the desk.

This seems extremely basic, but many of us are definitely falling at this first hurdle. Shutting your laptop and walking away is one of the easiest ways to actually feel like you’re on a break. Instinctively, we may see a direct message pop up or an email come through for which our natural response is to reply — which doesn’t sound like much of a break. When it’s time for lunch, stay your laptop away, and if you can, you may want to consider spending your break in a different room or outside for a change of scenery and to practice good work hygiene. If you're feeling up to it, you can even use the opportunity to get some exercise in.

2. Leave your apps alone!

This is definitely one of the hardest things (which says a lot about our relationships with social media), but try not to spend your lunchtimes scrolling through Instagram and other social media. While it may seem like a way to shut off from work, realistically going from staring at your laptop screen for hours to staring at your phone screen isn’t exactly the image of rest that you may be looking for. Instead, allow yourself a small amount of time to check messages or look at your apps, before putting them away for the rest of your break.

3. Use your break to be social

A major shift from working in an office to working from home is not being able to socialise in the same way — and being able to engage in conversations that aren’t to do with your work is really important. So, arrange a phone call with a work friend or old school mate during this time (phone calls are great if you want to be getting on with hobbies and also feels kind of retro now that we’re all video calling every day). Having a quick catchup with someone is always nice and gives your break a bit of the socialising you may miss at the office. 

4. Engage with a hobby.

We’ve been in lockdown a long time now, so it’s no surprise that many of us have picked up random new hobbies — from crochet to learning new languages, to painting, to writing. Giving half an hour of your break to engage in a hobby is a great way of unwinding for a little while and shutting off for a bit, especially if you can chat to someone at the same time. It takes 10,000 hours to master a hobby, so get that time in where you can!

5. Order allplants!

Our new lunch range is the ultimate way to hack your lunch breaks. Delicious, nutritious grain bowls that you can heat and eat in 15 minutes without the need for any cooking before or (much) washing up after is the dream. Get your lunchtimes back to make the most of your break by ordering a box with us today!