Will you have breakfast after reading this story?
A third of office workers would rather grab a few minutes extra sleep than breakfast, according to a survey that estimated poor eating habits were costing companies dearly in terms of lost productivity.
A survey by Ipsos Mori found 17 percent of British office workers never have breakfast and 17 percent have it just one to three times a week.
It found eight percent of 1,051 office staff questioned also regularly skip lunch, with these poor eating habits estimated to be costing companies 17 billion pounds ($34 billion) a year or 97 million lost working days.
"Worryingly, of those who rarely or never eat lunch, 27 percent also never eat breakfast during the working week," said Ipsos Mori researchers in a statement.
The survey, commissioned by food service company BaxterStorey, estimated skipping breakfast cost companies 8.1 billion pounds or 46.5 million lost working days, with many studies finding a link between eating breakfast and attention span, learning ability and general well-being.
When other poor eating habits such as having no breakfast and lunch or having no breakfast and snacks, are included, lost productivity rocketed to nearly 17 billion pounds.
The survey found most employees -- 92 percent -- have lunch, with 68 percent opting for sandwiches, but most people don't drink enough during the day. Only 11 percent had the recommended eight or more drinks during the working day.
"People who eat breakfast have better concentration, problem solving ability, mental performance, memory and mood.
People who eat breakfast are also more physically energetic and have better coordination," said nutrition specialist Matt Barker.
"Research tells us that scores on memory tests were about 15 percent lower in people who skipped breakfast. And those who skip it tend to eat sugary, fatty foods later in the day, reducing their productivity."
一項調查顯示,三分之一的上班族早上寧愿多睡幾分鐘,也不愿起床吃早餐。據該調查估計,員工不良的飲食習慣導致工作效率下降,從而給公司造成了巨大損失。
該項由益普索•莫里調查機構開展的調查發現,英國17%的辦公室職員從不吃早餐,17%的人每周只吃一至三次早餐。
調查發現,在1051名受訪的辦公室職員中,8%的人經常不吃午餐。據估計,員工這些不良的飲食習慣每年給公司造成了170億英鎊(相當于9700萬個工作日)的損失。
益普索•莫里調查機構在一份聲明中說:“令人擔憂的是,在那些很少或從來不吃午餐的人中,27%的人也從不吃早餐。”
據該項由BaxterStorey食品服務公司委托開展的調查估計,員工不吃早餐給公司造成的損失約81億英鎊(相當于4650萬個工作日)。很多研究發現,是否吃早餐會影響注意力集中時間長度、學習能力及總體幸福感。
如果將其它一些不良的飲食習慣也算上,如不吃早餐和午餐或不吃早餐吃零食,公司所遭受的損則高達近170億英鎊。
調查發現,大多數員工(92%)吃午餐,其中68%的員工吃三明治;但大多數人每天攝水量不夠,僅有11%的人每天喝水量達到建議的八杯水或者更多。
營養專家馬特•巴克說:“吃了早餐的人注意力更加集中、解決問題的能力更強,智力表現、記憶力和心情也更好。此外,吃早餐的人更具活力,身體協調性更好。”
“研究人員稱,不吃早餐的人記憶力測試得分約低15%。而且早上不吃飯的人之后可能會吃甜食和高脂肪食品,從而會影響他們的工作效率。”