Written by 7th Grade Max

At Seven Hills School we students get twenty minutes of our day to eat lunch. It takes us about three minutes to get out of the classroom, one or two to get our food, and another two or three to pack up our lunches. That leaves us with about 12 minutes to actually eat lunch. Twelve minutes is not enough time to eat a meal and digest our food before we have to head back to class. We need more time to eat lunch so that our bodies can function properly. Studies show that it is better for people to eat slowly. We are growing kids. We need food to feed our brains so we can learn and do school activities.

Studies by the Cleveland Clinic show that the optimal amount of time to eat and digest a full meal is thirty minutes. It is hard to function without food. We all know that. If we don’t get food at lunch then we don’t work as well in class. Our brains need glucose and protein to function properly. When we eat lunch and digest our food it is converted directly into energy for our brain. This keeps us in parasympathetic calmness.

The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for keeping us calm. When a person isn’t doing much, like relaxing, sleeping or reading, the parasympathetic nervous system is at work. If we are rushing through lunch and trying to get to classes quickly, it switches us from parasympathetic calmness to a sympathetic response which is also known as fight or flight. When our body is in a sympathetic nervous response we don’t digest our food as well. When we don’t digest our food we don’t get all of the nutrients we usually get from a meal, and people who eat faster tend to be more overweight later in life.

For example, one article by the Cleveland Clinic stated that If you eat quickly you are 42% more likely to develop higher body fat than people who eat slowly. If you eat too quickly your brain doesn’t get the signal from your stomach that it is full. If you are rushed to eat, you may eat too much. Overeating can cause your blood sugar to rise too high and can cause sleepiness rather than the alertness needed for school.

Also, having more time to eat lunch allows you to catch up with friends and meet new people. Eating together as a group allows us to connect. Most other cultures eat a big meal together in the middle of the day. They have between thirty minutes to two hours of free time for eating lunch. For example, French schools typically have between one to two hours for lunch. Having time to eat with friends allows us to make better relationships and helps to build community at school.

It is important to have enough time to eat lunch and digest your food. The US hardly values time as a community compared to other countries. Studies show that it is important for us kids to have enough time to eat lunch so that we can refuel our bodies and brains and survive the rest of the school day. If we don’t have time to eat, we sometimes are too tired to function during some of our classes, and we may overeat (causing weight gain for the future). If you eat quickly you may not get all the nutrients you need to keep your brain going for the day. Eating a quick lunch doesn’t allow people to spend much time with our friends in school. I believe that we should have a minimum of thirty minutes to eat lunch at Seven Hills.