Build a better lunch break

Turn your lunch break into a mini-vacation

No one is going back to school any time soon around here, but I know people in a lot of regions are starting to transition into that mindset. As you’re thinking about lunch boxes and lunch options for kids, here’s an idea for making your own school year better: resolve to make the most of your lunch break. Some resolutions seem like hard work. But I think this one could truly make you more productive, and be a lot of fun. Handled right, a lunch break can be like a daily mini-vacation, and can rejuvenate you for the afternoon ahead.

I know some people assume they don’t have time for lunch, but in a great number of jobs, people wind up losing time when their energy dips. When you don’t take a real break, your brain takes a fake one, which is why you start clicking over to rage-bait headlines or you find yourself mysteriously perusing cat videos. A lunch break won’t solve the afternoon energy dip completely (and too heavy a lunch can make afternoon sleepiness worse) but in general breaks do reduce fatigue. You might try experimenting with taking 30 minutes for lunch for two weeks or so and see what happens.

If you do, then you can start figuring out how to make the most of this time. Most people do consume food, though if you want to use your lunch break completely for something else, it could be OK to eat at your desk later.

At least once a week, it could be nice to make a lunch break food-centric and social. Go out to lunch with colleagues or meet up with a friend who works nearby. You’ll probably wind up looking forward to these lunches for quite a while!

Keep it simple

But you might also decide to eat fairly simply and quickly so you can do other things. I like the idea of bringing a simple lunch from home (say, a microwave burrito + apple, or boiled eggs + veggies and hummus) and then using the time for something personally fulfilling.

One great idea is to get some exercise. If you can reasonably take 30 minutes for lunch, you could go eat outside for 10 minutes and then walk for 20 minutes afterwards to clear your head. You will definitely return refreshed.

I am also a big fan of reading at lunch. This could be done concurrently with eating. If you suspect people will bother you if you sit at your desk with a book, then go elsewhere: a park, your car. Squeezing in an extra 30 minutes of reading on four work days a week is another 2 hours of weekly reading. Since many books take about 4 hours to read, this means you could read an extra two books a month!

You could also use your lunch break for creative work. Some things like painting take a lot of equipment and time to set up, but that’s not the case for sketching, or cross-stitching. Or you could write. Twenty-five minutes might not seem like much, but you might be able to get in 300 words a day during this time. Or you could write a few lines in a sonnet (as I’ve been doing for the past 3.5 years — 2 lines a day comes out to one sonnet a week).

A lunch break could be a time for reflective or spiritual activities. Meditating or praying can make you feel more centered. Some houses of worship near business districts have short mid-day services.

Mix and match

In any given week, you could do a combination of all of these. The key is to actually think about it ahead of time. As you’re planning your upcoming week (on Fridays, naturally) you could look at your lunch breaks. Maybe you set up a picnic lunch with a friend for Monday (that will get rid of any Sunday Scaries right there!). On Tuesday the weather looks great so you’ll plan on going for a walk. On Wednesday and Thursday you’ll read, and on Friday when you’re working from home you’ll write in your journal out on the porch. Each day becomes a vacation in its own way — something you can look forward to.

Now, I live in the real world and I know it’s possible that all these planned lunch breaks won’t happen. Work and personal emergencies come up. But the good news about a frequent habit like taking a lunch break is that you can always try again the next day. If you’ve planned cool stuff for five lunch breaks in a week, you’ll probably still get to do most of them. Even if you only get to do two or three really fun, rejuvenating lunch breaks, that’s better than the “none” that will happen if you don’t think about it and just eat something while checking email. You might read and walk and have a good conversation with a friend — and if you do, it will be pretty hard to have a bad week.

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