It doesn’t seem quite fair that in the mix of the eight-eight-eight breakdown of a day —eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep (ideally) and eight hours of downtime — we have to spend one of those precious downtime hours at the office. Yet your lunch hour, properly spent, can go a long way toward rejuvenating you, making you happier and more productive for the rest of the day and even propel you along towards your weight loss goal.
Check out these tips for ways to spend your lunch hour that will help you to continue losing weight and getting healthier:
1. Get moving! Taking a walk during your lunch hour is probably the best way to recharge yourself. Walking helps you relax, burns calories, and releases energy in your body that makes it hard to sit still during the workday. Better yet, snap on a pedometer and track your steps throughout the day. Challenge yourself to get at least 10,000 steps a day.
2. Go to the park. If there’s a park near your office, spending some time in nature can be amazingly rejuvenating. Watching the squirrels and birds is relaxing, and breathing in the natural scents helps you breathe more deeply and melts away stress.
3. Do yoga. Find an empty conference room — or better yet, head to that park —and pull out your yoga mat. Yoga helps you relax and refocus your brain so that you can make it through the afternoon.
4. Plan ahead. With everything we have to get done on a daily basis, meal preparation can seem next to impossible – especially a healthy meal. Rather than checking Facebook or reading the latest celeb gossip during your lunch hour, write out the meals you will prepare throughout the week. Better yet, write out your grocery list as well so that you can hit the market on the way home – and so that you won’t be sidetracked by junk food.
5. Make a call and hit the road. Make a pact with a friend or family member that you’ll have walking calls over lunch. Use this time constructively: talk through work, family or personal issues – but be sure to discuss solutions, too. Doing so will nip stress in the bud, and will leave you with a game plan for moving forward. By walking while you talk, you’ll burn calories and knock out at least 30 minutes of exercise. Now that’s what you call a “Power Lunch”!
Whether your office feels oppressive or it’s the best thing in your life, we all need an escape from time to time. Take that escape daily during your lunch hour, and you’ll enjoy your job more. As an added benefit, shifting attention away from work in the middle of the day frees your brain to come up with creative solutions to problems that have been bugging you, so when you come back to work, you’ll be refreshed and ready to tackle what’s left of the day. Not to mention – you’ll burn some calories, too!
About the Author:
Tina Daniels writes about self-improvement for Vape World.
