(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

Oi, you. The one tapping away on your keyboard between bites of a sandwich from Pret.

Put down the sandwich. Go downstairs. Sit outside and give yourself some time to actually focus on eating your lunch instead of half-working, half-eating.

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Have a proper lunch break. You deserve it.

I don’t just mean that in a ‘you’ve done well, treat yourself’ kind of way, to be clear.


You literally deserve a lunch break. Everyone does. If you’re working a full-time job, you should be entitled to a break during the day to eat, run some errands, and do whatever the heck you want.



And to be clear, ‘whatever the heck you want’ should not be work.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

In my days in various offices, I’ve noticed a trend: hardworking people will work through lunch, eat their food at their desk, and never leave their email access for longer than the eight minutes it takes to pop to M&S and back.

I get the impulse.

There’s so much to do. What’s the point of taking an hour or so to eat? You can just shovel in a sandwich, keep working, and manage to leave on time.*

*You won’t actually leave on time though, will you?

It feels more productive to work through lunch and nibble at things instead of taking a break.

Plus you worry that if you budge from your desk, all your colleagues and bosses will notice and silently tut in their heads, judging you as a bad worker who doesn’t care about your job.

Which is absurd, clearly.

It plays into this overwhelming idea of presenteeism – the concept that showing up and spending as much time as possible at your desk is what should be valued above quality of work.

Presenteeism, and working through lunch, values long hours as a sign of dedication and hard work, instead of valuing creativity, time management, and the brilliance of the things you do or make.

For a while, presenteeism has been the status quo. Flexible working hours are a rarity, and people who come in early and stay late are often viewed as harder workers who take their jobs more seriously than those who stay on time.

But that needs a serious shake-up.

In a time when stress levels and anxiety keep rocketing, maintaining a decent work-life balance is more important than ever. And a big part of that is tackling the spectre of presenteeism.

And how to tackle such a large monster? By proving it’s nonsense. By leaving on time, and taking a lunch break, and proving that your work will be better as a result.

Which it will be, to be clear.

Research has shown, time and time again, that we aren’t designed to work constantly without any breaks. That’s why we have lunch breaks in the first place. Not because we desperately need an hour to consume food (we all know we can wolf down a sandwich in three minutes flat), but because we can’t function without taking a break mid-work.



The human brain can’t focus for long periods of time. Your brain needs a break to think about other things, so that it can return to work fresh and ready to take on tasks again.

(Picture: Mmuffin for Metro.co.uk)

When you’re overworked and have spent your lunch break half working and half eating, you’re less likely to notice mistakes, more likely to struggle to come up with ideas, and your problem solving turns to sh*t.

And the idea that working through lunch is a productive option? It’s a total myth. When your brain is crying out for a break and you force it to multi-task, you fail to do either job properly. You’re not eating and relaxing properly (hence why you can’t tell when you’re full and don’t really enjoy your food), and you’re not entirely focused on your work.

Scrolling through emails or staring at your screen while you eat doesn’t help, either. It just makes you look busy while actually wrecking your productivity and your mental health.

Working through lunch is rubbish for your physical health, too.

(Picture: Shutterstock/ Ella Byworth)

Your eyes are strained. Your wrist hurts from continuous clicking and scrolling. Your shoulders ache from hunching over in your chair.

You’re supposed to stand up and walk around for a bit, change up your position. But you don’t, and end up sore and stiff as a result.

Attempting to work through your lunch isn’t good, or productive, or clever. It’s a clear sign that you don’t value yourself as anything more than a worker. You’re not even giving into your basic human needs – to rest, to think about something other than work, to eat without typing in between bites.


So you need to start taking a proper lunch break.

By which I mean this.

You get up from your desk, you leave your office, and you go somewhere else. It doesn’t have to be for the full hour. It can be just for 15 minutes.

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While you’re out there, in a shop, in a cafe, in the park, wherever, you need to be doing something entirely unrelated to your work.

That can be eating a lunch you actually enjoy. It’s as simple as that. If you’re really worried about being away from your desk, just taking the time to eat away from your computer is a step in the right direction.

But it can be other things, too. Anything you want, in fact. Because your lunch break is your time. It’s time your workplace has agreed to give to you to do with as you please.

You can read. You can nap. You can call your mum. You can do errands. You can fit in a workout. You can take a stroll around the park.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

You can do anything that makes you feel good. But it needs to be something other than your work. Because your entire life is not your work and you are not just a worker.

If you’ve already eaten at your desk (maybe there’s free pizza, or you brought in soup and needed to use the office microwave), you should still be taking that time away from your desk. You don’t need to explain it to anyone or make up an excuse. You are entitled to a break that you’re supposed to use as a break from work.


The reason your workplace has given you a lunch break is because they know that the most productive, happiest, most creative people are that way because they have time away from work. Your employers know that you need a break, and if they’re making you feel bad for taking one, that needs to change.

You’ll return from a proper break feeling refreshed, less stressed, and full of new ideas – because you’ve actually given your brain some time to relax and come back to work refreshed.

(Picture: Shutterstock/ Ella Byworth)

Once you take back your lunch break, you’re starting a subtle workplace revolution.

You’re showing people that it’s totally okay to take a lunch break away from your desk – and that this should be encouraged.

So if you’re a manager or someone higher up, you, especially, should be taking a proper lunch break. To prove that working better is more important than working longer, to show that you can be brilliant and have a lunch break, and to encourage a good work-life balance with the people you work with.

Take a f***ing lunch break. Carry your sandwich downstairs, loudly and proudly. Don’t check your emails and return to your desk at a leisurely pace.

And for the love of god, stop scattering your keyboard with soup spatters and sandwich crumbs. You’re better than that.

Stuff you can do on your lunch break: Eat a fancy lunch and take your time with it. Go to a restaurant if you’re feeling posh.

Catch up with a colleague and chat about non-work things

Call your friends. Call your mum.

Hit the gym or work out in the park

Meditate

Do a lunchtime class to pick up a new skill

Learn a language on DuoLingo

Read a book

Meditate

Take a nap (set an alarm so you don’t end up sleeping away the whole day)

Masturbate

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