Tim Dower: Why taking a lunch break is so important

A lunch break is an important part of the day for your mental and physical health. Photo / Getty Images

You may have come across this lunch break news. NewstalkZB's Tim Dower discusses why you should be stepping away from your desk each day.

The long lunch is almost definitely a thing of the past and now it seems any kind of lunch is becoming a bit of a bonus in some workplaces.

In Australia, nearly three-quarters of workers don't take their full designated lunch break.

In fact, according to recruitment firm Hays, about one in 10 of us don't take a lunch break at all, with only 28 per cent actually putting down their tools for the full break on most days, and others regularly only taking half their break.

Yet there's evidence that productivity overall is better when they've had a chance to step away for a while.

I'm pretty sure you'd get a similar result if you surveyed workplaces here.

Part of it seems to be down to the idea that you have to be seen at your desk at all times, or people start saying you're not pulling your weight.

READ MORE • Why the lunch break is dying

And I'll bet these ghastly open-plan sweatshops businesses seem to be into these days have something to do with that.

Hays actually says it, in some business cultures there's been an unwritten rule that people need to be visible, at their desks at all times.

Even though it's unhealthy and counterproductive.

Some people take no break at all, according to Hays managing director Nick Deligiannis.

As an individual member of a team, it's difficult to be the odd one out, everyone watching you, maybe even a little envious muttering.

But bugger it, we need to stick up for ourselves a bit more.

And maybe once the head honchos start to realise we actually do more work and better work when we take a break, they will start encouraging us.

It's about your mental health and work-life balance.

And as the old adage goes, when we're on our deathbeds, not many of us will be wishing we spent more time at our desks.