Lunch together hurts your concentration

Lunch with colleagues may limit your ability to look after yourself

08/01/2013

While a shared lunch with colleagues may be relaxing, it may have a negative impact on subsequent concentration when compared to a break in the workplace on their own. Scientists at Berlin's Humboldt University and several other universities have come to this conclusion, as they currently do in the online journal „PLOS ONE“ to report.

Common lunch leaves test persons „more liberal and careless“ become
Accordingly, lets „In a meal taken together, the cognitive control somewhat, that is, one becomes more liberal and careless, takes his own mistakes less seriously“, said the head of the research group, Werner Sommer. To what extent a break in the workplace at work alone has a general effect on the health can not be said to the psychologist in the summer, however, based on the study with 32 women no statement.

Comparison of two different pause situations
For the experiment, the scientists had compared two different break scenarios: One group of women visited a restaurant together with a friend and ate a lunch of choice there in an hour's window. The other part of the subjects remained alone in the office, could not choose freely, but got the same lunch as the first group served and had only 20 minutes for this time.

Less tired after having lunch alone
The comparison revealed an interesting result: Those who had eaten with a friend said they were calmer and less alert after the meal than the women who had eaten alone. In addition, the participants of the first group achieved in subsequent performance tests for cognitive control worse results, also showed measurements a diminished perception of their own mistakes and an increased perception of negative emotional facial expressions, the researchers said in their article.

Eating with colleagues beneficial in creative work
But that was not the researchers say that eating together generally has a negative effect, because „Cognitive control can be negative for certain purposes, but not for everyone. For example, reduced cognitive control is a disadvantage when careful self-monitoring of performance and detailed attention to errors is required, such as when working in lab or factory work or in numerical processing. In other situations, cognitive control may also be beneficial, such as when social harmony or creativity is desired“, so the researchers in their article.

For efficient work „shared lunch rather unfavorable“
Despite these clear differences, however, the study gave the scientists only limited explanatory power for the lunch break in their day-to-day work because the test subjects had not worked before eating on the day of the test. Nevertheless, according to Werner Sommer expected, „that the findings can be transferred into certain employment relationships“, besides, one could assume that „if you want to work efficiently, a shared lunch is rather unfavorable“ be, the scientist continues. The situation would be different if, for example, creative solutions had to be found, because then food in society could make sense - but since this was not an explicit subject of investigation, no further statements could be made so far. Instead, researchers see the experiment as a first step in studying the psychological consequences of different eating situations.

Health experts emphasize again and again the importance of breaks
Here, there is obviously a great need for research, because health professionals have been pointing out the importance of breaks for a long time. Because according to the „Stress Reports Germany 2012“ Of these, 26 percent of employees would often miss their break, which is completely counterproductive from an expert's point of view: „When we work, we use more energy. That's why it's important to take breaks and relax“, said the psychologist Andrea Lohmann-Haislah of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. A study by the Techniker Krankenkasse shows that there is plenty of need for action in this area: According to this, one in three professionals is negative about the fact that a healthy diet is not possible in the workplace, especially as half of the respondents complain, not enough during the breaks Have time to have lunch in peace.

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Healthy snooze in the office

Image: Petra Bork