How Junk Food Makes You Less Productive

When you are busy or overwhelmed with the demands of work, it can be easy to forget about eating healthy. Junk food is easy to find, easy to eat on the go, and inexpensive to boot. While it may seem too bothersome to take the time to find and prepare healthy meals, the junk food you are eating may actually be making you less productive, no matter how much time you think you are saving by grabbing a bag of chips for dinner instead of eating a healthy meal. Here are some of the top ways that junk food makes you less productive

It Tires You Out

All of the carbohydrates and chemicals in junk food can actually tire you out. Most of us have had that feeling of eating too many carbs and feeling overwhelmingly full and tired after a meal. This feeling doesn’t exactly help with productivity. Furthermore, even when you eat sugary junk food that gives you a temporary burst of energy, consuming that type of processed sugar always leads to a crash. This means that in a few hours you will be even more tired than you were before you had that mouthful of sugar.

It Doesn’t Help You Focus

The chemicals found in junk food are shown to deliver a type of brain fog that prevents people from thinking clearly and focusing. If you are consistently eating junk food, chances are you will start to get easily distracted, begin forgetting things or losing your place in the middle of reading a paragraph. Little things like this can lead to a major decline in your productivity. Junk food also creates strong cravings for sugar and chemicals. These cravings can be so distracting that it can be nearly impossible to focus on work or the task at hand.

It Makes You Lazy

Recent studies on the effects of junk food from the journal Psychology and Behavior have found that junk food not only makes you gain weight, but can actually make you lazy as well. These studies looked at rats that had diets high in processed sugar. Many different types of research have found that individuals who eat junk food are slower to respond to tasks, are significantly less likely to work out, sleep in more and generally spend more of their free time in a stationary position. Junk food is simply a catalyst to more lazy behaviors, which is something that no productive person wants to fall victim to.

It Doesn’t Nourish You

Your body needs nourishment in the form of healthy vitamins and minerals. Studies from the World Health Organization have found that adequate nourishment can naturally raise productivity levels by as much as 20 percent. You also need proper nourishment in order for your body to function in the way it is supposed to and for your immune system to operate effectively. If you want to cut down on the number of sick days that you are taking from the office, then it’s time to throw out the junk food.

Keep these important facts about junk food in mind next time you are tempted to reach for a quick burger instead of a healthy salad. You may think you are saving yourself time with your choices, but in the end you are only hurting your productivity.