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It’s 1pm. Your colleagues are hotfooting it out of the office, while you scan your neverending to-do list and resentfully spike a fork into your third microwave lunch of the week. According to gov.uk, we are entitled to one uninterrupted 20-minute break for a period of six hours of work, so why aren’t we taking it? Galaxy® is encouraging you to step away from the emails and reclaim your lunch break.
By putting yourself first, just for 20 minutes every lunchtime, you’re more likely to be productive, not to mention happier and healthier. So tomorrow, embrace your lunch break and try one of these easy wins…
Spend time in nature
Chances are that you work in the organised chaos that is a city, and the idea of heading into dense greenery during lunchtime is absurd as it is unrealistic. But you don’t need to find an unspoilt forest glade to benefit. Recent studies have shown that just taking a walk around a green space can dramatically alleviate the stresses of the day almost instantly, enrich creative thinking and even activate the same cognitive responses as meditation. In need of some inspiration? Unearth your local green spaces with the Park Finder app. It finds parks near you so you can get your lunchtime zen and buy a salad before returning to work.
Up sticks to a cafe
So a full hour’s lunch isn’t an option but you’ll be surprised what a change of scene can do for your creative energy. Taking your laptop to a nearby coffee shop may be exactly what you require to make your brain take it up a gear. A 2012 research paper published in the Journal of Consumer Research showed that the ambience of a cafe is the most beneficial sound level for creative thought – the low-to-moderate noise levels increase processing difficulty just enough to force us to think in innovative ways. No decent eateries nearby? Then download some cafe audio – try Coffitivity.com – make a coffee and crack open a bar of Galaxy® Swirlers® for the same effect.
Zone out with a podcast
If you were glued to the likes of Serial and My Dad Wrote A Porno, we don’t need to tell you how beneficial – and addictive – getting captivated by a podcast can be. Studies have shown that listening to a podcast can improve our attention span and harness creativity, encouraging us to be more vivid with our imagination. If you’re champion of the multitask, podcasts are a masterful way to make collecting your dry cleaning and popping to the bank almost enjoyable.
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