The lunch habit doing you long term damage

Skipping breaks at work can lead to bad posture, an unhealthy diet and sleepless nights.

While you might think it's more effective to eat lunch at your desk, research says it's bad for us in the long term.

Experts in the UK have found that skipping breaks at work can lead to bad posture, an unhealthy diet and sleepless nights.

Last month a study conducted by the Southern Cross Health Society found that a third of the 753 people surveyed did not take a lunch break at all.

Worse, those who don't take a lunch break reported lower levels of personal wellness overall and rate themselves lower for sleep quality, eating habits and work-life balance.

Southern Cross' Chief Marketing Officer Chris Watney says it's well known that taking a break, getting outside and moving around boosts wellbeing and there are health risks associated with sitting down for too long.

Previous research has also calculated that staff who eat in the office are working an extra 128 hours every year - the equivalent of 16 eight-hour days.

In 2012, workers polled in the UK said they were reluctant to take their full lunch hour because they did not want to risk being made redundant.

Half of those surveyed said it was now so common to work through lunch that they "felt guilty" taking the full hour.