Is Snacking at Your Desk Good or Bad for You?
While constant snacking at your desk can become a bad habit, it also offers several benefits, such as improved focus, enhanced productivity, and a quick energy boost. However, it’s important to strike a balance.
You should mix desk snacking with moments to step away, stretch, and interact with others.
Equally important is consciously and mindfully choosing your snacks. For example, If your job involves intensive critical thinking, opt for snacks that support brain function. AND, keep in mind that since prolonged sitting can lead to muscle loss, protein-packed snacks can help counteract this effect.
Benefits of Snacking at Your Desk
Although snacking at your desk is frowned up by many (for reasons that we’ll discuss more below), it can come with many advantages:
- Quick Energy Boost: Desk-bound jobs normally require a lot of brainpower. You may not need a full half-hour snack break, but a quick Omega-3 packed snack like a healthy trail mix can give your brain the energy it needs to stay focused and keep going.
- Stress Relief: Work can get hectic, raising your stress hormones like Cortisol. Foods rich in Magnesium and Omeg-3 fatty acids and antioxidants such as dark chocolate, berries and nuts can help regulate the stress hormones and relieve stress.
- Social Interaction: Depending on how your work environment is set up (e.g. shared workspace or shared snack break), snacking at your desk can provide an opportunity for casual chit chat with your coworkers. Next time you feel like staying at your desk, but would like to spark a quick conversation, share a homemade healthy treat with colleagues sitting around your work area.
- Sustained Focus: Getting up to get a snack can disrupt your focus. According to a research study completed by the University of California Irvine, it can take up to 23 minutes and 15 seconds after an interruption to regain focus.
- Convenience: Staying at your desk for a quick snack is convenient. It saves a bunch of time and can be less expensive when you bring your snack from home, instead of purchasing it.
- Reduced Hunger: When you snack at your desk, it can prevent hunger from turning into a big craving, helping you avoid overeating later and maintaining your energy at a steady level throughout the day.
Drawbacks of Snacking at Your Desk
Opponents argue that snacking at your desk can be detrimental to your mental and physical health as well as work performance for the following reasons:
- Reduced Productivity: Casual distractions like reaching out for a snack can hurt productivity. As mentioned earlier, it can take an average of a bit over 23 minutes to regain focus after an interruption.
- Mindless Eating: Snacking while working can be very similar to snacking while you’re watching your favorite TV show: Grabbing whatever is within reach and eating until it’s all gone. If your desk is stocked with endless supplies of munchies, you run the risk of mindless snacking. Mindfully choosing both the portions and types of snacks you keep at your desk is key to avoiding overeating.
- Burnout: Taking a quick break can be a good mind refresher. However, when you don’t find a reason to step away from your desk to drink water, stretch or get a quick snack (because everything you need is within reach), you may continue powering through your work, without taking a proper break. This lack of downtime can lead to mental fatigue and burnout, as your brain doesn’t get the opportunity to recharge.
- Health Concerns: The results of several research studies confirm that lack of movement can have serious adverse effects on health. These health issues include cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes as well as mental health disorders like depression and anxiety. In addition, it’s been proven that even a 7-hour a week of workout routine cannot reverse the detrimental impact of prolonged sitting.
- Missed Satiety Cues: Staying at your desk for a quick snack is convenient. It saves a bunch of time and can be less expensive when you bring your snack from home, instead of purchasing it.
- Reduced Social Interaction: When you snack at your desk, it can prevent hunger from turning into a big craving, helping you avoid overeating later and maintaining your energy at a steady level throughout the day.
Tips for Healthy Snacking at Your Desk
Striking a healthy balance between snacking at your desk while working and taking time to get up, stretch and go for a short walk at regular intervals can be challenging. Whether staying at your desk for long hours is a matter of preference or a job requirement, the following tips can help you maintain a healthier lifestyle without having to give up your favorite snacks:
- Stay hydrated
- Choose healthy snacks
- Take regular breaks
- Snack mindfully
Smart Snacking: Healthy Desk-Friendly Snacks for Busy Professionals
When you’re desk-bound for long hours, the type of food you eat has a significant impact on your focus, energy level and mood. Going for snacks that are nutritious, support healthy brain and mood as well as prevent post-lunch energy crash is key. Hydration is also very important to boost a healthy brain function, especially because it’s surprisingly easy to forget to drink enough water when you’re zoned in.
Here’s a breakdown of the most important types of food you should eat at your desk:
Brain-Boosting Snacks
Most jobs performed at a desk rely heavily on mental effort rather than physical exertion. Your brain is constantly processing information, analyzing data and making decisions. This level of cognitive stimulation requires a steady supply of brain-boosting nutrients that support focus, memory and mood. Here’s a list:
- Walnuts
- Dark Chocolate
- Trail Mix
- Apple Slices + Almond Butter
- Greek Yogurt + Berries
- Boiled Eggs
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Avocado on Whole Grain Toast
- Hummus with Carrot or Cucumber Sticks
- Edamame with Sea Salt
- Pumpkin Seeds
Protein-Packed Snacks
As mentioned earlier, there is growing evidence that prolonged sitting can lead to loss of muscle mass, particularly in lower body parts. When larger muscle groups like hamstrings, quads and glutes aren’t regularly engaged, they start to become weaker, a condition called Sarcopenia, especially as we age. That’s why it’s important to enrich your body, not only with regular movement, but also with protein-rich foods, that help maintain muscle mass. Here’s a list of snacks that contain a larger protein content:
- Hard-Boiled Eggs
- Cheese Sticks or Cubes
- Nut Butter on Whole Grain Crackers
- Greek Yogurt
- Nuts and Seeds
- Roasted Chickpeas
- Edamame
- Cottage Cheese with Fruit and Vegetables
- Tuna, Salmon, Beef or Chicken Jerky
- Protein Bars
Hydration Helpers
Hydration is often overlooked, especially when we’re busy or focused on checking off and powering through a to-do list. It’s easy to forget to drink water until we start feeling tired, dizzy and even irritable, not ideal when we’re trying to be more productive at our desks. Here are a few tips and snack suggestions to stay hydrated while working at a desk:
- Always keep a water bottle within reach
- Set a gentle reminder to drink water
- Flavor your water with berries, citrus or herbs
- Snack on fruit and veggies with higher water content like watermelon and cucumber sticks
- Drink healthy smoothies
- Drink herbal teas
- Drink low-Sodium broth
What Snacks to Avoid
Avoiding certain snacks is just as important as including the right ones in your diet. While certain foods may provide a boost of energy or satisfy a craving, they can come with downsides and health side effects. For example, snacks that are high in sugar content, salt or processes ingredients can cause sugar crashing, bloating or dizziness. To get your body the nutrients it needs to maximize productivity, here’s a list of snacks that your should stay away from:
- Sugary Snacks Such as Donuts, pastries and Candies
- Salty Processed Snacks Such as Pretzels, Processed Cheese Flavored Crackers and Potato Chips
- Sugary Drinks Such as Pop, Energy Drinks, Highly Sweetened Iced Tea or Coffee
- Snack Bars with a Long List of Ingredients and Added Syrups
- White Bread or Snacks Made with Refined Flour
Concluding Remarks
Over 80% of the population spend the majority of their days at a desk. Long hours of sitting can have major health implications including musculoskeletal issues, diabetes and overweight. While working at a desk can sometimes not be avoided, there are things within our control that are often neglected. Mindfully selecting what we snack on at our desks can have a significant impact on our overall well-being, focus and productivity.
Snacking with intention means paying attention to what we eat and why we eat it. Are we choosing a snack to nourish us or just to satisfy a craving in the moment?
By keeping a variety of healthy, nutritious snacks at our desk and being aware of how they affect our health, mood and productivity, we can turn healthy snacking at our desk into a supportive part of our work routine and not a distraction or downfall.
