swordandtrowelYou don’t need to sell the idea of taking a break to the parents of mini ones – they just often can’t.

So why any worker would willingly skip their lunch breaks if they don’t need to seems questionable.

But a recent study by Bupa found that only 1 in 3 workers take their allocated lunch break and 45 per cent of these workers took their break at their desks.

And, of course, pre-minis, I often used to be one of those tied-to-my-desk type people too.  What was I thinking?!

The benefit of having two little people no longer entitling you to lunch breaks, needing entertaining and being a one-car household so often walking to and from children’s activities, is that we all get lots of fresh air and parks are often on our itineraries.

swordandtrowel2And exploring outdoor spaces could be boosting our creativity according to a campaign by bookkeeping company Sword & Trowel.  (And my minis are definitely creative so they can certainly attest to that).

Director of operations at Sword and Trowel Dimitrios Alafouzos asks: “Do you always take your hour lunch break? We want to encourage local business owners to support their staff to take a break and get outdoors. We are lucky to have many open spaces on our doorstep and it has been proven that by getting out in the fresh air, creativity increases and employees’ overall mood improves.”

And they further encourage people to #TakeABreak by quoting Kimberly Elsbach from the University of California – “We know that creativity and innovation happen when people change their environment, and especially when they expose themselves to a nature-like environment” – and The American Psychological Association that found that walking increases participant’s creativity by 81 per cent.

So, even if you are a hardened workaholic or feel pressure from managers or colleagues to put your workplace before your own health and wellbeing, it’s clear there’s plenty of work-related reasons to #TakeABreak too.

Find out more here: #TakeABreak – and don’t forget to share a photo of your midday stroll with @SandTbookkeep and @TheMiniMalpi!

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