Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to use your lunch break to get
Speaker 1: energized for the afternoon. You could think of yourself as
Speaker 1: a character in a video game and power up at lunch.
Speaker 1: If you've played a lot of video games over the years,
Speaker 1: you have witnessed this phenomenon of powering up. Characters can
Speaker 1: sometimes get extra abilities or become resistant to threats as
Speaker 1: a result of encountering their power up substance. For instance,
Speaker 1: and Super Mario Brothers, you want to absorb mushrooms. My
Speaker 1: understanding from watching my kids play Fortnite is that various
Speaker 1: power up items can restore their health and shields. Real
Speaker 1: life is not a video game, but if you have
Speaker 1: a long work day, you probably do need to power
Speaker 1: up in the middle of it, or you will find
Speaker 1: yourself at three pm flickering like a video game character
Speaker 1: that's about to expire. I have certainly been finding this
Speaker 1: myself as the weather has gotten nicer. I am challenging
Speaker 1: myself to take a real lunch break. Ideally, I do
Speaker 1: a few things first. I sit at the table to eat,
Speaker 1: not at my desk. Usually it's leftovers from dinner, but
Speaker 1: if we don't have leftovers, I will cook something so
Speaker 1: I can have a real meal. On the days my
Speaker 1: husband is working from home, we both try to take
Speaker 1: a break at noon together. It's like a kid free
Speaker 1: date in the middle of the day. Then I go
Speaker 1: outside and sit in my hammock for a few minutes
Speaker 1: and read something. It might be work related, but it
Speaker 1: might not be too. Then I walk through the yard
Speaker 1: and the woods behind the house. I take the same
Speaker 1: trail most days and see how summer fills everything in
Speaker 1: with green. I will admit that all of this takes
Speaker 1: an hour a lunch shower, and I know that is
Speaker 1: a lot of time in the middle of the work day.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, I come back feeling powered up
Speaker 1: for the afternoon. I'm ready to keep working until the
Speaker 1: kids come home. Now, I recognize that my own ways
Speaker 1: of powering up might not be available to everyone. But
Speaker 1: the components of my lunch break are all known energy
Speaker 1: and mood boosters. Good food, socializing, fresh air, reading for fun, exercise.
Speaker 1: Wherever you are working, you might be able to pick
Speaker 1: up some of these to help you power up. Can
Speaker 1: you walk up and down the stairs of your building.
Speaker 1: One study of people's energy levels through the day found
Speaker 1: that folks who rated themselves as a three on a
Speaker 1: ten point scale gave themselves a nine after five minutes
Speaker 1: of bounding up and down the stairs. Now that might
Speaker 1: seem like it couldn't be true that expending energy through
Speaker 1: exercise creates more energy, but I promise you that is
Speaker 1: what happened. You can also chat with a friend, make
Speaker 1: concrete plans to meet up with your work best friend
Speaker 1: at least a few times a week for a brown
Speaker 1: bag lunch in the break room. If you are both
Speaker 1: working from home, call her. Or you could meet another
Speaker 1: work from home friend at a local dog park as
Speaker 1: you get your dogs outside and get some exercise. Laughter
Speaker 1: and connection always leave us feeling better than before. Even
Speaker 1: if your schedule doesn't allow you to connect with a
Speaker 1: friend who makes you laugh, look for other opportunities to
Speaker 1: feel merry. Listening to a funny podcast or watching a
Speaker 1: YouTube video of your favorite comedian can induce real belly
Speaker 1: laughs that will certainly power you up more than reading
Speaker 1: depressing headlines. Do that only in short bursts and ideally
Speaker 1: when you are best able to deal with it and
Speaker 1: whatever you do, make sure you eat something satisfying, not
Speaker 1: something that's going to leave you in a food coma afterwards.
Speaker 1: And I wouldn't recommend the three martini lunch of yesteryear,
Speaker 1: but something with protein and healthy fats is probably going
Speaker 1: to stick to your ribs longer, as they say, then
Speaker 1: a doughnut and coffee. It can seem productive to work
Speaker 1: through lunch shoveling something into your mouth as you said,
Speaker 1: at your desk and being unable to say what it
Speaker 1: was afterwards, but paradoxically, you will probably accomplish more in
Speaker 1: the afternoon if you stop working for your lunch break
Speaker 1: and use it to do something totally different. You power
Speaker 1: up instead of powering through, and that can make all
Speaker 1: the difference in the meantime. This is Laura, Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.