你在辦公桌前吃午餐嗎?
你會(huì)在辦公桌前吃午餐嗎?來看看這位教授是什么看法呢?
Brain Drain
The attention it takes people to focus at work drains them of psychological, social and material reserves, says Dr. Cunningham, leading to stress and lower productivity. 'Taking a lunch break away from the desk lets people separate themselves from thesource of that drain,' he says. 'And that offers the opportunity to build back some of those resources in the middle of the day -- rather than just at the end when work is over.'
There is no hard data on how much of a break the body needs to fully recover its resources, says Dr. Cunningham. He believes it's person-specific; some might need 10 minutes, while others might need an hour.
Gravitate to Green
With so much research showing that parking in a chair all day puts a drag on productivity, mood and physical health, Dr. Cunningham suggests ditching the desk at least once at midday to do something energizing: 'At least go for a walk down the hall.' If possible, he says, use the full break to switch focus to something uplifting -- instead of, say, online shopping, reading email or running to the bank. 'I wouldn't call that a resource-replenishing moment,' he says.
Dr. Cunningham cites psychologist William James's 19th-century concept of passive attention, which suggests that people can restock their inner resources by focusing on something that fascinates them and draws them in, seemingly without effort.
The easiest way to replenish, research shows: Interact with nature. 'Just changing yourenvironment relieves you of the need to decide what you want to attend to, and that in itself poses a sort of relief,' says Dr. Cunningham.
A Buddy Boost
Studies have also shown that connecting to colleagues socially throughout the day can be very energizing.
'If you're a service rep or a call-center employee, I could understand why you wouldn't want to take a social lunch,' says Dr. Cunningham, 'but for some of us, it's different enough from what we've been spending our day doing, and we get a lot out of it.'
He is a fan of going out with co-workers for lunch frequently -- and not talking about work. 'That is a resource-replenishing activity,' he says.
The only downside: 'You can't write that lunch off your taxes.'
Enjoy Eating
In a recent exploratory study, Dr. Cunningham asked medical residents to rate the degree to which they found each of their daily activities to be stressful, resource-straining and resource-replenishing. 'Eating during work hours was the one activity that was rated only as replenishing, and tremendously valuable to them,' he says.
Nutritionists have long asserted that eating small amounts throughout the day helps maintain a level metabolism. And most people have experienced the sluggishness that follows a heavy midday meal.
'It's certainly not advised to have a Thanksgiving feast for lunch,' says Dr. Cunningham. 'Then again, you should give yourself a chance to be fascinated with the world around you -- and enjoying your food can do that.'
如今,越來越多的美國(guó)人都在辦公桌前吃午餐,或更有甚者干脆就不吃了。放棄適當(dāng)?shù)奈玳g休息對(duì)一個(gè)人的健康有害嗎?田納西大學(xué)查特努加分校(University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)工業(yè)組織心理學(xué)與職業(yè)健康心理學(xué)教授克里斯·康寧漢(Chris Cunningham)就此表達(dá)了自己的一番看法。
腦力枯竭
康寧漢說,工作要求人們集中注意力,這使得其心理、社交及物質(zhì)層面的能量精力消耗枯竭,而這一切又會(huì)導(dǎo)致壓力的產(chǎn)生并降低勞動(dòng)者的生產(chǎn)力。他說:“從辦公桌邊抽身離去進(jìn)行午間休息能讓人們遠(yuǎn)離腦力枯竭的根源。這還會(huì)為你提供在晌午時(shí)分——而不是等到一天工作結(jié)束之際——恢復(fù)大腦活力、重整精氣神的機(jī)會(huì)。”
康寧漢說,對(duì)于人體到底需要休息多久才能完全恢復(fù)腦力,目前尚無確鑿的數(shù)據(jù)。他認(rèn)為,這完全是因人而異。有些人可能只需歇上10分鐘,而另一些人則可能需要調(diào)整一個(gè)小時(shí)。
投入大自然的懷抱
諸多研究表明,整天黏坐在椅子上會(huì)對(duì)生產(chǎn)效率、勞動(dòng)者的'情緒以及身體健康形成拖累。康寧漢建議,午間時(shí)分至少離開辦公桌一次去做點(diǎn)兒提神醒腦的事情:“起碼要走到大廳盡頭散散步。”如果可能的話,他說,利用整個(gè)休息時(shí)段將注意力轉(zhuǎn)移到一些振奮人心的事情上——而不是,比如說,到網(wǎng)上購(gòu)物,收讀電子郵件或奔到銀行辦事。“我不會(huì)將它們稱為養(yǎng)精蓄銳、給大腦充電的時(shí)刻”,他補(bǔ)充說。
康漢寧還引用了心理學(xué)家威廉·詹姆斯(William James)在19世紀(jì)提出的被動(dòng)注意的概念。被動(dòng)注意是指人們能夠通過關(guān)注讓他們著迷、吸引他們的事物來給自身內(nèi)在能量充電,這一舉動(dòng)看起來毫不費(fèi)力。
研究表明,充注精力最簡(jiǎn)便的方法就是:與大自然互動(dòng)。康漢寧說:“只要換一換你的環(huán)境就能緩解你的這一需求——即決定你想要關(guān)注的事物的需求,而這種調(diào)整本身就是一種放松。”
聯(lián)絡(luò)同事感情,提高人緣
諸多研究也已表明,在一天中與同事們聯(lián)絡(luò)聯(lián)絡(luò)感情也特別能提神醒腦。
康漢寧說:“如果你是一位客服代表或是呼叫中心的一名雇員,我能理解你為什么不愿參加社交午餐。但對(duì)于我們當(dāng)中的另一些人,與同事一起吃頓飯,這與大家日間從事的工作內(nèi)容完全不同,況且我們還能從中受益良多。”
康漢寧自己就經(jīng)常和同事一起出去吃午餐——而且飯桌上不談公事,他對(duì)此頗為熱衷。他說:“這就是一種重整精氣神、恢復(fù)腦力的活動(dòng)。”
唯一的弊端是:“這頓午餐,公司不會(huì)給你報(bào)銷,你得自己掏錢。”
享用美食
在最近的一次調(diào)研中,康漢寧讓住院醫(yī)師給他們自己的每一項(xiàng)日;顒(dòng)從三個(gè)層面打分,看看哪些活動(dòng)會(huì)讓他們覺得壓力重重,哪些活動(dòng)使人耗神費(fèi)力,又有哪些活動(dòng)能讓人恢復(fù)能量、精神倍增。他稱:“在工作時(shí)段進(jìn)食是僅有的一項(xiàng)被評(píng)為能給人充注能量且沒有被貼上其他標(biāo)簽的活動(dòng),而且這一活動(dòng)對(duì)他們而言意義重大。”
營(yíng)養(yǎng)學(xué)家長(zhǎng)期以來都稱,一整天少吃點(diǎn)有助于維持新陳代謝的水平。而大多數(shù)人都經(jīng)歷過在午間飽餐一頓后的慵懶懈怠感。
康漢寧說:“當(dāng)然了,并不建議大家像享用感恩節(jié)饕餮大餐那樣敞開肚皮吃午飯。但容我再說一遍,你應(yīng)該給自己一個(gè)欣賞周邊世界的機(jī)會(huì)——而享用美食能為你提供這樣一個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)。”