As junk food consumption has been linked to a symptom and catalyst for stress, an e-learning company has ranked UK employee’s favourite snacks they turn to when stressed in the office.
In August 2019, the Oral Health Foundation (OHF) research showed that when workers feel stressed out at work, 32 per cent of them binge on snacks.
DeltaNet International found the top crisps, biscuits and chocolate bars employees turn to when stressed.
They are:
Crisps – Sensations (Thai sweet chili), Quavers, Monster Munch, Doritos (chili heatwave)
Biscuits – Chocolate digestives, Jaffa Cakes, Choc-Chip cookies, Bourbons
Chocolate bars – Dairy Milk, Galaxy, Wispa, Twix
Darren Hockley, managing director at DeltaNet International said:
I’m quite partial to a bar of Dairy Milk myself, especially as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, but I know some of my colleagues would disagree with my choice.
While the rankings were a bit of fun, we can’t ignore the fact that workplace stress is a very serious issue, and can lead to bad eating habits, amongst other things. It’s really important that we can learn to identify the symptoms of stress within ourselves as it may present differently from person to person, and understand what good stress management is and how to achieve it.
DeltaNet offered some tips to help your employees be more active at work. Such as:
Encouraging physical activity – so initiatives like cycle to work scheme, discounted gym membership, lunchtime yoga and access to onsite shower facilities.
Offer healthy snacks – fresh-fruit deliveries can help employees make beneficial choices, as can recipe swapping clubs and team lunches aimed at raising awareness about nutrition.
Keep employees moving – encouraging employees to take short but regular breaks can help, as can raising awareness about display screen equipment (DSE) use and what office-based exercises they can do to help reduce fatigue, pain, and discomfort.
The list of employees most favourite snacks was compiled from data on more than 60 snack rankings from news sites, brands, Twitter and Reddit.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
