Reflection & Action If you’re reading this on Wednesday morning, you still have time to make a date for lunch. Why do I mention it? Because it turns out that an astounding number of folks are eating Al Desko and not Al Fresko.

A recent poll found that 60 percent of workers eat lunch at their desks every day, while two thirds take less than half their entitled lunch hour. A quick math check shows those people are working (or at least sitting in front of their computers) an extra 128 hours (or 16 eight hour days) a year.

We’re discovering more all the time about the physical risks of too much sitting and too much desk time. When we closet ourselves away – brain glued to screen and bum to chair – we end up numb on both ends.

Move around mid-day and you clear out the mental cobwebs and top the energy tank. You’ll return to your afternoon tasks with a fresh mind and body.

What’s keeping us glued to our chairs? Workload is one factor. But, beyond that, some folks are worried it will have a negative impact on their careers and reputation if they take time for themselves. One person commented she’d take her lunch break once she was the boss.

Is a break-free lifestyle really the fast lane to break-through opportunity? No space for creativity? No room for appreciation? No time for renewal? I think not.

Where and how are you lunching today? Why not choose a place and a way that nourishes your spirit, mind and body without putting you at the mercy of your fears?

Give it some thought, give it some time, and give it a go.

Quotes Of The Week:  One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. – Luciano Pavarotti

We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink. – Epicurus

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. – Virginia Woolf

Resource Of The Week: Here’s a link to the complete Al Desko article at Mail Online.

Readers Write: LC writes: I have eaten “Al Desko” from time to time and can’t see that it made any difference in my life other than in missing moments that might have been lovely.  Did it make a difference in my work to stay at the desk?  Not likely.

I do remember occasionally taking time to meet friends and colleagues for lunch and generally talking about anything but work.  That was always refreshing and often uplifting.  Time with friends is always a treasure.  The job will always be there, but those friends may not always be there.

SF writes: We really do lose out on so much by not taking a mid-day break. Some of my best ideas have been generated by chatting with a colleague over lunch – even a brown-bag lunch in a break room.