Exposure to nature versus relaxation during lunch breaks and recovery from work: development and design of an intervention study to improve workers' health, well-being, work performance and creativity.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The objective of this research project is to understand and to improve workers' recovery from work stress. Although recovery during lunch breaks is the most common within-workday break, it has received only minor research attention. Therefore, we will study whether lunch breaks including a relaxation session or exposure to nature have more favorable outcomes than usually spent lunch breaks concerning: a) recovery processes, b) health, c) well-being, d) job performance and e) creativity. We approach recovery by combining the theoretical frameworks of work and environmental psychology.

Methods/design

We conduct an intervention study in a sample of 268 knowledge-workers who engage in different lunch break activities for 15-minutes per day, two weeks in a row. We rand

SUBMITTER: de Bloom J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4039544 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature