healthmedicinet

Daily News and Tips

Employees who spend an hour in a restaurant have reduced brain function in the afternoon

  • Staff who spent an hour out to lunch at a restaurant with friends had reduced brain function

By
Nick Mcdermott, Science Reporter


PUBLISHED:

18:55 EST, 31 July 2013

|

UPDATED:

03:44 EST, 1 August 2013

Scientists have found that individuals who eat lunch at their desk are more productive in the afternoon, compared to those who go out for a leisurely meal.

Staff who spent an hour out to lunch at a restaurant with friends returned to work less focused on the job and less wakeful. They had reduced brain function, making it harder to tackle detailed tasks and spot mistakes.

While those who ate at their desk were mentally sharper. And the difference in performance cannot be attributed to what was drunk during the meal, because both groups of participants ate similar food and abstained from alcohol.

A study has found workers who ate their lunch at their desk were mentally sharper than those who went out for their break

A study has found workers who ate their lunch at their desk were mentally sharper than those who went out for their break

On the plus side, those who left the workplace during lunchtime returned more relaxed and upbeat.

The researchers, led by Dr Werner Sommer from the Humboldt University in Berlin, said the results suggested lunches should be tailored according to the workplace or intended outcome.

They said: ‘We conclude that the restaurant meal – but not the office meal – appears to be relaxing and seems to reduce cognitive control processes for a while.

‘One may have expected more “positive” effects on the psychological processes of the participants who ate in the restaurant situation. However, the attenuation of cognitive control(??) may be negative for certain purposes but not all.

‘For example, reduced cognitive control is a disadvantage when close self-monitoring of performance and detailed attention to errors is required, such as in laboratory and factory work or numerical processing.

‘In other situations, an attenuation of cognitive control may be advantageous, such as when social harmony or creativity is desired.’ The study, published in the journal Public Library of Science ONE, the first group ate a solitary meal

alone at their desk in a restricted amount of time, while the others took a short walk to a restaurant for an hour-long lunch with a friend.

The research found: ‘The restaurant meal – as compared to a plain office meal – had a relaxing effect at the conscious level, as reflected in subjective evaluations.

The experimental effects in the post meal sessions can be best summarised as a reduction of cognitive control on the performance level while the neurophysiological results indicate a slackening of cognitive control related to performance and error monitoring processes.’

Since the meals differed in many ways, including the chatting to a friend, fresh environment and lack of time restrictions, the team said: ‘It is impossible to specify at this point, which of the variables above are crucial for the effects observed in our study.’

  • News reporter draws giant penis on live TV

  • Suicidal husband saved after wife grabs boxer shorts

  • Hikers capture video of mysterious ‘Bigfoot’ in Canada

  • Michelle Knight confronts kidnapper Ariel Castro

  • Inside Castro’s house of horrors

  • Brave tourists share their videos of shark-infested water…

  • Dashcam: Zimmerman stopped for speeding with gun in car

  • Ariel Castro: I would like to apologize to victims

  • Take a tour of the $7 million Fairy Castle doll’s house

  • Video helps owners understand cats… and stop getting…

  • 17-year-old David Beckham giggles way through media training…

  • LISTEN: Rapper arrested after bragging about murder in song

  • Jennifer Rosoff, 35, has plunged to her death while on a first date after the railing on her 17th-floor New York City balcony gave wayHorror as advertising executive plunges 17 floors to her…

  • Clinton‘I could take all my clothes off’: Never-before-heard tape…

  • A suicidal husband was saved when his wife grabbed him by his boxer shorts and held him thereSuicidal husband saved after his wife grabs onto his BOXER…

  • Silvio BerlusconiBerlusconi loses last appeal against fraud conviction and is…

  • Payback: Roger Herrin was ordered to pay back $500,000 of an insurance claim over his son's deathFather protests having to pay back $500,000 insurance claim…

  • CASTRO BANNER.jpgINSIDE CASTRO’S HOUSE OF HORRORS: First pictures of the…

  • Heartwarming: Lance Corporal Myles Kerr keeping nine-year-old Brandon Fuchs motivated in the race Never leave a young man behind: Photo of marine who slowed…

  • Betrayal: Andrew and Lauren Silverman, pictured in January, have been married for 10 years but she is now pregnant with Simon Cowell's baby. Andrew's family have long had doubts about their relationshipFamily of real estate mogul whose wife is pregnant with…

  • Castro said: 'As God as my witness I never beat these women, I never tortured them. These women were not virgins when I met them, all three of them'‘I spent 11 years in hell, your hell is just beginning’:…

  • A man born blind gained his vision this year after having surgery to fix fractured bones in his face from a fall Canadian man born blind sees for the first time at age 68…

  • Trial: The hockey mom talks to her attorney during the first part of her trial in July last yearHockey mom jailed for performing sex acts on boys aged 14…

  • ClarksonGovernment bans U.S. singer Kelly Clarkson from taking…

The comments below have not been moderated.

I’m very geeky but you can’t TAKE lunch, you can HAVE lunch. If I took your wallet would I be eating it? You take your lunch outside as in bring it outside. Damn English not speaking English correctly. I tell my students off for saying this. It’s very continental European English. Most countries use take meaning to eat.

Cheeky31982
,

Madrid, Spain,
01/8/2013 22:56

Report abuse

There is a very famous UK architect who used to forbid his employees from eating at their desks and provided a separate room for that purpose. Rodent infestation is the main problem, not to mention the smell of fish and chips with vinegar when all the windows are closed !

LERENARD
,

Love n Light, United Kingdom,
01/8/2013 21:46

Report abuse

that’s why bankers are so stupid, they spend too much time boozing and getting fat

lisa3
,

london,
01/8/2013 20:11

Report abuse

and who gets the chance to go to a restaurant for an hour at lunchtime? I want that job!

– Daveoffabrum, Birmningham, 1/8/2013 9:13———————————–They are known as Management and they spend more than an hour there.Probably goes someway to explain why British managers are so bad.

Ritchie
,

Birkenhead,
01/8/2013 19:07

Report abuse

Nope I’ll eat my lunch away from desk as its called a lunch “break” which means I get an hours break from work!! I’m entitled to it so I think it’s only fair that I take it!!!

claire1989
,

cannock, UK,
01/8/2013 17:47

Report abuse

Rubbish. If you eat lunch at your desk you’ll just get more stressed and overworked. Take a break!

katie
,

brimingham,
01/8/2013 17:01

Report abuse

I always reduce my brain function in the afternoon to prevent overheating my brain cells. I achieve this through drinking a bottle of wine at lunch. My afternoons consist mostly of making other people in the office laugh and my boss condones this. I’ve just got a big pay rise…

Finkelstein
,

TwelveInch Turkey Sub Sandwich, South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands,
01/8/2013 16:40

Report abuse

I think it depends on the individual not what scientists think

kt
,

berkshire,
01/8/2013 16:40

Report abuse

What all the mess that could be created by sitting at a desk?

Mark
,

Watford, United Kingdom,
01/8/2013 16:29

Report abuse

‘reduced brain function’ lol

SaveMeJebus
,

Springfield, United Kingdom,
01/8/2013 16:28

Report abuse

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.