While underclassmen college students may be celebrating the end of finals, upperclassmen and recent graduates know that, for them, their hard work isn’t quite over. Summer doesn’t just mean music festivals, beach days, and road trips – summer means internships or office jobs, which means that while your friends are living it up in the summer sun, you’ll be spending your summer in a sea of cubicles. 

In today’s work culture, it’s common to eat lunch at your desk or work through lunch to maximize your workday. When you’re an intern or newbie at the office, it can feel wrong to take a full lunch break when it seems like everyone is swamped, but I’m here to tell you: if you have a lunch break, you should take it – at least some of the time. Just be sure to double-check the expectations regarding lunch breaks with your supervisor if you haven’t already! 

If doing it for your mental health isn’t enough to convince you, do it for your physical health – several studies have shown that our bodies, from our eyes, to our backs, to our organs, suffer when we sit at a desk for eight or more hours a day with no breaks. 

So, you’re up and out of your desk and you’ve grabbed some food – what do you do? Whether you’ve got an hour, 30 minutes, or fifteen minutes, here are my suggestions for ways to have a productive lunch break: 

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Read

Whether your breaks are 15 minutes or a full hour, squeezing in a couple of pages of a book, a newspaper, or a magazine, giving your brain a break and focusing on something else will leave you feeling refreshed and ready to focus on the rest of your workday. Plus, you’ll be caught up on all the beach reads your friends are indulging in while you’re at work. 

Just be sure to read the real thing (read: a physical book) to give your eyes a break from screens! For bonus points, head outside to read rather than reading in the office caf for a little extra vitamin D.