Almost all of us do it daily, even when we know how terrible it is for our health; eating at our work desks is one of the worst office habits we have and we’re not close to changing it.
While a lot of us get at least 30 minutes in the name of a lunch break, some even 60 minutes, study shows that we eat lunch at our desk 80 per cent of the time and only step away from the desk to buy lunch from the shops or the office fridge.
Munching and lunching while still chained to the desk is a common cultural trait seen across offices around the world, and some even work at their desk under the pressure to seem more devoted and efficient to the bosses and coworkers.
Fast-Eating Syndrome
When you’re writing reports and answering emails while eating your sandwich at the desk, you’re not concentrating on what you’re consuming which can lead to overeating and mindless overconsumption. You might also suffer from what’s called a ‘fast-eating-syndrome’ where you forget what you’ve just eaten or your body hasn’t been able to register the feeling of fullness. Speed eating impacts the effectiveness of a gut hormone responsible for signalling the brain that you have had enough. As a result, we end up eating way more than we would have, which can lead to excess body fat storage or weight gain.
Vitamin D deficiency
When you get up from the desk and eat a meal out in the sunlight, your skin absorbs the essential afternoon rays of the sun. However, if you spend the time between 1300 and 1500 hours within closed walls, expect lethargy, hunger pangs, irritation, stress and anxiety to hit you thereafter.
More Stress, Less Creativity
Another study conduced by German scientists showed that eating at desks initiated several psycholoical changes in the brain which resulted in lowering productivity and enhancing stress. In addition, the burnout levels of those who ate at their desks were much higher than those went for a 30-minute walk during their lunch break.
Better Office Relationships
Eating alone, whilst in front of a computer, resulted in participants of the German study to feel lonely and less loved by their coworkers, as opposed to those who coworkers who lunched together. The ones who head outside had better reIations with colleagues at the workplace, felt more motivated and had higher levels of job satisfaction.
Germs And More Germs
Scientists have warned that office workers are exposed to more germs from their phones and keyboards at work than toilet seats.
Need I say more?
Do you eat at your desk or take the allocated lunch break outdoors?
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