Does Eating Lunch at Your Desk Make you Feel Stressed

The poor white-collar workers in the office often cannot have a decent lunch. Many times, they may just stare at the computer screen, chewing and choking on sandwiches, microwave meal or instant noodles. In U.S., the lunch break is even slowly disappearing. 65% of the people said that their lunch is cold rice, and some of them don't even eat lunch.

However, the quality of lunch only directly affects young men and women to make excuses for weight loss, which make people feel worse under the pressure of busy work. A recent study has shown that going out for lunch with friends not only has a positive impact on your communication skills and interpersonal relationships, but also allows you to relax better after a stressful work and stimulate your creativity. On the other hand, if you visit Taobao and browse Weibo on your computer to read national news, it will affect not only your appetite, but also your mood.

A German study published in PLOS ONE focused on the influence of the eating environment on mood and cognitive ability. The 32 participants were divided into two groups, one group ate by themselves, and the other group went out to eat together in a restaurant. After the meal, the researchers tested their semantic memory and the ability to deal with the emotional expression of others and asked them to rate their mood. The results showed that the group of people who enjoyed social lunch showed more positive emotions and less cognitive control, which enabled them to better perform perceptual processing, recognize the emotions of others, and be more creative.

So, this shows that everyone should try their best to have a good meal with friend at lunch!