It's time to reclaim your lunch break. Image: Lisa Villani
It was Work Your Proper Hours Day that got me thinking. As well as encouraging us to down tools on time, the TUC was also telling us to take our proper lunch break. I don't need much encouragement to think about lunch - sometimes I'm still picking bits of muesli out of my teeth when I start to wonder what to have - but lunch breaks are a different matter.
Can you remember when you last lingered over a sandwich for your full 20/30/60 minutes? While most of us are well aware of how often we get in early or leave late - and occasionally make a conscious effort to stick to our contracted hours - but lunchtimes often fall by the wayside. Eventually it becomes normal to use a notepad as a doily and mousemat as a side plate.
My crumb-covered keyboard is testament to the fact that I often eat al desko. I try to spend time reading the paper or catching up on jobs - emailing friends, renewing my car tax, all those things that count as life rather than work - but as soon as the phone goes I'm back in work mode. On those occasions when I leave my desk for a full hour to sit in the canteen with colleagues or visit the shops, I feel 100 times better for it.
I should do it more often, and so should you. Having a break at lunchtime is good for you - and your employer.
Maybe you don't feel like you have time to do so every day, so why not choose one day a week on which you take your full quota of lunchtime minutes. Get planning, and you can start this Friday. We'll make it the Guardian's Take Your Proper Lunch Break Day.
We've got some ideas about what we can all spend our time off doing. Join our campaign and tell us what you plan to do with your lunch break on Friday.
