The 2:36 slump, the ‘Green Paper’ – and floating monkeys…
During your normal busy day, how often do you stop, step back and relax?
No, me either.
It’s not really allowed, is it?
There’s always a other thing to do, just one more email to send, one more task still sitting on the To Do List, one phone call you keep forgetting so you’d better just do it now… Taking time out just feels… wasteful, doesn’t it? There’s always something more important you should be doing.
PG Tips Green Tea has today published a ‘green paper’ report that reveals the average person is only able to fully relax for 36 minutes a day – just three hours across the working week.
Worryingly, less than half said they take a proper break every day, with one in ten feeling they never take a break in a typical work day. And I don’t think this is just about going-out-to-work grown ups. Mums & Dads at home with the kids are just as bad – if not worse – at not stopping during the day.
Yup. That’s EXACTLY how our morning tea goes, right?
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
PG Tips Green Tea have launched a campaign to re-energise the nation,
encouraging us all to take regular breaks from work and life stresses to re-charge. The report focuses on the ‘power of green’ – the psychological benefits of the colour green are well-documented – in a bid to help the entire nation supercharge our breaks.
Of course green open spaces make us ALL feel better – just looking out of my window at a view of green fields helps calm my mood; I don’t even need to go out in them to feel a little refreshed. But it’s not just the ‘green outdoors’ that has this effect; it’s know to improve productivity when an office is painted green, for example. Even ‘green’ food and drink – from leafy vegetables to green tea – have been shown to produce feelings of energy and invigoration simply by association.
The new Green Tea range from PG Tips. I know – eight fab flavours to try!
This ‘power of green’ could help us all make the most of a little ‘me-time’ to boost positivity and reinvigoration. And we should pay attention to the ‘breaks’ we do take – whilst almost half of us will head for the kettle to make tea, a third won’t even leave our desks and will simply browse online, while a quarter will simply take the time to pay bills or shop. And that’s not ‘fun’ shopping. That’s way too guilt-making; no we’ll be doing the life admin like grocery shopping. Dull dull dull.
What’s not very dull at all is the fact that PG Tips have sent a giant floating monkey made from over 100k tea leaves traveling down the Thames in a bid to energise Londoners.
Yes.
I said a Giant Floating Monkey.
Made from over 100,000 tea leaves.
Marvellous.
The most common time to really ‘hit the wall’ in terms of an energy slump is 2.36pm – and this is the time a pick-me up is most needed. So when you feel yourself slowing and getting tetchy, do yourself a favour.
STOP.
Grab a cup of tea, and step outside.
Take a deep breath of fresh air, find some grass if you can, and just… stop.
The emails and the phone call swill all still e there, and unless you happen to be a brain surgeon or a midwife or a fireman then nothing bad’s going to happen if you just wander off for a short time (if you are a brain surgeon, midwife or fireman we request ever-so-politely that you pick your break times quite carefully pleasethankyou…).
And when you come back your brain will be SO much better at doing all the things you want it to.
Like looking at giant Tea Monkeys…
