man eating pizza slice

12 World Records You Can Break In Your Lunch Hour

Lunch breaks are the saviour of the working day. For one wonderful hour every day, we can stop thinking about deadlines and targets, and use the time instead to grab a bite to eat, read some news, and watch funny videos about cats on YouTube (guilty!).

However, in 2011 BUPA discovered that only 30% of employees take an hour for lunch, even though a minimum of 20 minutes rest is a legal requirement for those working for six hours or more (According to the 1998 Working Time Regulations).

BUPA also discovered that more than a third of employees experienced pressure from their managers to work through their lunches, with heavy workloads also being to blame.

Despite this, other studies have suggested that taking a break can help promote productivity within the workplace. It’s not difficult to see why is it? Overworked and stressed staff will lead to a negative working environment because overworked employees are unhappy employees.

Alternatively, given time to catch up on news, eat some food and ‘forget’ about work, will leave staff feeling refreshed and de-stressed – ultimately leading to a better workplace atmosphere and better productivity.

​Researchers even found that letting your mind wander is an important part of the creative thinking process.

So, with that in mind, we’re encouraging you to make the most of your lunch break this week – and what better way to do that then by breaking a world record?!

Here’s 12 different world records that you could potentially break in your lunch hour today – I dare you to try! Why not challenge a colleague to a doughnut-eating contest (We are particularly good at making doughnuts disappear in our office!)?

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Infographic Transcript

Twelve World Records You Can Break In Your Lunch Hour

  • Fastest time to eat a 12'' pizza. Current record: 41.31 seconds held by Peter Czerwinski (Canada)
  • Fastest time to type the alphabet. Current record: 3.43 seconds held by Mohd Khursheed Hussain (India)
  • Fastest time to duct tape a person to a wall. Current record: 41.66 seconds held by Ashrita Furman who taped Alec Wilkinson (both USA)
  • Long time to spin a basketball on 1 finger. Current record: 10 minutes 33 seconds held by Ruben Alcaraz (Spain)
  • Most grapes caught in a mouth in 3 minutes. Current record: 202 grapes held by Ashrita Furman (USA)
  • Fastest time to print 500 sheets by colour desktop printer. Current record: 7 minutes 19 seconds jointly achieved by HP Officejet PRO X551DW and Officejet X576DW All-In-One Printers
  • Most jam doughnuts eaten in 3 minutes. Current record: 6 doughnuts held by Steve McHugh (UK) & he didn't even lick his lips
  • Most Smarties eaten in one minute. Current record: 17 smarties held by Ashrita Furman (USA)
  • Fastest heel-to-toe walk 10 metres. Current record: 11.66 seconds held by Jock Busuttil (UK)
  • Most spoons balanced on a face. Current record: 17 spoons held by Aaron Caissie (Canada)
  • Fastest time to type a message (SMS) on touch screen phone while blindfolded. Current record: 25.90 seconds held by Mark Encarnation (USA)
  • Most push-ups with claps in 1 minute. Current record: 90 push-ups held by Stephen Buttler (UK)

How many can you break?

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