You're listening to Roundtable.
I'm Niu Honglin, joined by Steve and Gao Junya.
Coming up soon.
For decades, rest has followed a predictable pattern.
Work hard during the week, recover on the weekend.
But that rhythm is starting to feel out of sync with how people actually live and work today.
In response, a subtle new behavior is emerging.
Young professionals quietly reclaiming a few hours in the middle of the week, creating space for rest where none formally exists.
Is it an individual case or is it really becoming a trend?
Let's find out.
And another too-good-to-be-true weight loss trend is going viral.
Burgers for lunch, white buns for dinner, no real breakfast, and you will get a slimmer waistline.
But some experts also say behind the catchy promise, your body may be telling a different story.
But before learning more about this new diet trend.
It's 3 p.m. on a Wednesday.
Office lights are still on, inboxes still filling up, meetings still running.
But in a quiet cafe tucked between two office buildings, someone sit alone by the window doing absolutely nothing work related, no laptop open, no phone in hand, just a pause in the middle of the week.
More and more young professionals are choosing to disappear, quote unquote like this, not escaping work entirely, but just stepping briefly outside its rhythm.
Please help me understand this.
How are they doing this?
Yeah.
So in its simplest definition, I suppose this is kind of a self-initiated short break taken during the work week.
And employees will often do this on a Wednesday afternoon right, because it is smack dab in the middle of the work week.
So people will step away from their work for a few hours.
Oftentimes it'll be between 2 and 5 p.m.
It's not about an official leave.
They're not using their dedicated holiday time.
They're simply arranging this time for themselves.
They'll use maybe flexible hours if their company allows that.
They might use a half-day leave if they have to, or maybe shift their workload to allow them to get away from the office for hours, few hours, and if you look at it this disappearing it looks pretty normal on the surface.
You know, sitting alone in a quiet cafe during your office hours.
A lot of people will do that.
Some will walk slowly through the neighborhood or go for a walk in the park, and Others will just kind of hang out somewhere.
No meetings, no errands, no productivity goals.
So disappearing, it's not about going far away.
It's not about getting your errands run per se or doing something dramatic.
It just means middle of the week, middle of the day.
Step away for several hours.
I don't know, Junya, do you have the need to do such thing in your opinion?
Personally, do you feel like taking two, three hours in a Wednesday afternoon will boost your work capability or efficiency?
Personally, I'm so jealous of those young people.
We're in the middle of the week and now we're in the studio recording this program.
But honestly with you, I don't think I've ever taken a day off in the middle of the week just to go out randomly.
To have a coffee for four hours.
No, no.
Personally, I would love to.
I'm an outdoor person, and I would love to go for a walk in the park, enjoy the sunshine.
Sure.
I mean, people are doing that too.
We did talk about spending 20 minutes walking in the nature boosts your energy.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't think that's what it's about per se.
I'll tell you a story about a real person.
It was a quiet Wednesday afternoon, or it can be many quiet Wednesday afternoons.
There's a young product manager who's named Yao.
And Yao slips into a small neighborhood cafe near a subway exit.
Outside, the city continues to move and live and breathe.
And she's breathing, but she's paying attention to what's going on outside.
She's not paying attention to her phone, she's not paying attention to her laptop.
She does this every second week, every two weeks.
She takes a few hours and goes and sits and she found over time.
This is really restorative.
It's not about The weekend, where the weekend is often very busy for people, right?
You're out, you're busy, you're running around, you're doing something, friends, family, whatever.
This is about simply taking a break.
And she's not alone.
They surveyed young people between 18 and 35.
And what they found was that.
More than half of the people who responded believe that a half day of free time during the work week is better for them, in terms of their own personal restoration, than taking a long holiday trip.
And that is the interesting part.
The reason I'm asking Junya.
The question is that I want to know how come that nowadays, for these young professionals, A weekend is simply just not enough.
And according to the survey results Steve has just mentioned, a quiet afternoon in the middle of the week is even more effective for them to rest, comparing to long holidays.
You know, I'm not as young as those people, but my weekends are also all filled up usually.
Right.
So sometimes I go back to my hometown.
Sometimes I meet friends in Beijing.
So it's...
Weekend is not for me to just relax, lying in bed.
Social time.
Don't you feel like that too though, Niu Honglin?
Is that sometimes the weekends, you know, when we say weekend Saturday, Sunday we have it in our mind that oh, that's our recharge time.
That's when the battery fills up again.
But oftentimes the battery can get further drained depending on your weekend schedule.
If you are a working mom or dad and you don't get to spend a ton of time with your kids during the weekdays, then the weekends is the only time that you can do that.
I know plenty of friends who, you know, that's life.
That's how it goes.
So imagine that mom or that dad and imagine that when they're not at the office, when they're at home, the minute they walk in the door it's mom mom mom, do this, do this, do that for me, do this, do this.
It's almost busier than work.
So if you can step out of the office for a few hours and just chill.
That's your you time.
That's the only time during the week that you really have where nothing else is going on.
It does sound nice, but I am going to sound harsh.
That is, we've been living like this for a really, really long time, more than several decades.
Our parents did it, we are doing it, and what's interesting about this is talking about the trend among the younger generation.
To be honest, I think for our generation, or for people older than us who are shouldering even heavier family responsibility, the family time and the working time are already rest Comparing to each other, if you know what I mean when you're busy working and then you take one hour taking care of your kid.
Yes, it's still tiring physically, but your mind is in another state, which means the part of your brain that is busy working, it gets the rest.
And when you're taking care of the kid for the entire week.
And I'm only talking about myself, but I feel like I missed the office on Monday morning.
I want to go back to the office.
So the reason I'm saying this is because, of course, we think it will be a relatively more ideal situation that we can take some hours off in the middle of the week.
But are we also saying that the state is serious enough that the system need to rethink its the resting plan and how to schedule a week?
Is it not sufficient enough in today's day and age?
I don't know if there's a connection between maybe the four-day work week if that's kind of what you're suggesting or some sort of restructuring of how we work.
I don't I don't know if that has anything to do with this.
I'll try to explain it from a different angle.
Okay, so you just said Yeah, but when I'm not at work, when I'm with my kids at home, I'm not using my work brain.
And when I'm at the office, I'm not using my take care of the kid brain, right?
But in both of those and that's true, but in both of those scenarios your brain is still working for somebody else, right?
At the office, you're still working for your employees or for your coworkers or for your boss.
Your brain is dedicated to that.
When you're with your kids, your brain is dedicated to that.
When you're with your friends, same thing.
So the idea here is that your brain isn't dedicated...
To anything or anyone other than you.
Hmm.
I mean, it sounds pretty fantastic.
Definitely.
And I think Niu Niu, you and I, I think we share the similar work assignments.
I don't think you can just get a total break from work, even if you're taking care of your kid.
If you check your messages, see a new work is there.
I'm thinking that the idea is that you kind of just do it.
I don't think this is a really highly submit a report about going to a cafe for two hours.
I don't think it's that.
It's consistent.
We use the word disappear.
I think it's just you go.
And the reason that it can be operated like this it can happen like this is because more and more companies, including ours, are talking about your work performance is more important than the time you spend in the office.
In the very beginning micro shifting, you remember, we talked about that we talked about it as well.
That's kind of a stupid idea in my opinion, but for some people they feel the need to escape.
Come back go, come back, go come back many times, perhaps throughout the day, And it is okay when you can guarantee your work performance.
And at the beginning, Steve also already introduced how some young people are doing it.
That is to use their annual leave, but only use half of the day.
That is, to work, for example, overtime for several hours to compensate the workload, so that they can take the break they need.
So yeah, I think one a culture in a company is relatively flexible, is humane enough, is able, has the room, has the space for employee to arrange that for themselves.
That is also kind of cool.
Some workplaces, they are experimenting with more flexible scheduling, some hybrid types of models, and maybe Putting their evaluation systems to the test a little bit maybe instead of instead of focusing on, you know, present hours hours that you're there or online presence hours.
It's more about the output.
It's more about the quality of your work. that you're putting out.
I mean, I like the idea.
I don't think this works for every job.
I don't think this works for every company.
But if companies can allow their employees to do this when they need it.
I made a joke on the show a couple of days ago that if i was running my own company, i i would set the policy that you come into work whenever you want and you leave whenever you want, but you make sure that you're doing your job, and if you do it, then we're not going to have any issues.
Now, obviously, that company would fail in about six months.
I was going to say, please be my boss.
But this is a lot more reasonable, right?
If the employee says, asks their boss, anything pressing in the next couple of hours?
I'm just going to dip out for a bit.
And if the boss says, yeah, cool, you know, not not.
Yeah, cool.
And what time are you going to be back?
No, that ruins the experience.
Just OK.
Yeah.
See you in a bit.
And trust the employee to come back within a reasonable amount of time.
Maybe add that time on to the rest of their work week.
If they're gone for two hours on a Wednesday afternoon, why can they not add 30 minutes to their day on Monday Tuesday, Thursday and Friday?
That seems pretty reasonable to me.
Is it reasonable if only some of the employees are doing that and others are working full time and they're not?
Well, they are, maybe because of their workload, are still working a little overtime every day, but they do not want to compensate Wednesday afternoon break.
Junio, what do you think about that?
Do you think other like if If I'm doing this.
But I am not.
Yeah.
Is it fair to me?
I think it depends, you know, different people they have on their own work assignments.
And personally I would vote for a different work structure.
Be it maybe four days in office, then one day, maybe not at the office, but still stay online.
Hybrid.
You know, personally I think staying in the office is quite consuming really.
You know, It made me quite tired.
I know we have a lot of work to finish, but we can actually focus on the work for several hours and then do it efficiently.
Then the rest of the time, maybe we're searching for another topic or doing something else.
It's just not that efficient.
You mentioned our parents' generation.
I think today's generation is so different from their work conditions.
100%.
Yeah, they ask for so much demand from our mental work.
I think people are just more aware of how they feel.
My dad taught for 34 years.
The very idea.
When stories like this, when we do stories like this on the show, I always think about my dad and I always laugh because he would find this ridiculous.
Sure.
I'm sure.
What do you mean you need to step out to restorative what?
Top up.
Yeah, you're at work.
You get paid to be there.
Right.
I can just hear him.
I can hear his voice.
But COVID changed how people think about their workplace.
And it changed how people view work, their role on this planet.
It caused a lot more questions that require answers, and if a person identifies a feeling i need a little break today, then they do it and honestly, i don't see anything wrong with that.
We talk about this on roundtable quite a lot and we do believe each and every individual has their own way of working, has their own habit and their own preference of resting, and the fact that we're talking about it's not because we want a one plan fits all kind of solution or kind of policy change in the entire country.
It's because we find all these different ways of resting and working inspirational, and perhaps being able to have the room to discuss this, discuss this on roundtable, discuss this with your boss and even just implementing it in your work life is a proof that you can.
Everyone might be able to find their way of working and living.
It boosts your happiness level and boosts the efficiency of the company as well.
You're listening to Roundtable.
Coming up.
Next, let's take a bite into the latest viral diet and find out if it truly helps you lose weight happily.
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Then tune in to Roundtable where East meets West and understanding is the goal.
This is Roundtable with me, Steve Hatherly and Gao Junya.
What if I told you that you could eat burgers for lunch, fluffy white buns for dinner, skip a real breakfast and still lose weight?
Sounds like the kind of diet that was invited at 2am on social media and somehow went viral by breakfast.
We have been talking about different types of diets for quite a long time, or probably quite many times on Roundtable.
So what is this latest one?
What is this hamburger mantou diet?
Hamburger mantou weight loss method has gotten a lot of attention on social media.
So here's the quote from a poster.
Every day breakfast is just black coffee and eggs.
Lunch is two hamburgers with less sauce and extra vegetables.
Dinner is just two steamed buns and all meals are eaten within an eight-hour window.
And people they say are attracted to this because it is perceived as a happy weight loss method that allows for foods that are usually considered fast food or treats.
Hamburgers are usually considered a treat or fast food.
The steamed buns, delicious, usually considered a treat or a quick snack, not a weight loss method.
Coffee, egg, hamburger, mantou, you know, what I'm looking for is where's the fruit?
You know, where is the extra meat from hamburger?
Exactly the question I want to ask.
I don't find it balanced enough.
No, it's not.
It's not balanced at all, but maybe that's why people are loving it.
I think it's because it's relatively effective.
People do find it effective.
The mantu, by the way, this is a traditional food here in China.
It's the plain steamed white buns, and there's not much to them at all.
It's just plain wheat flour.
With some water and some yeast.
They're pretty soft.
They're pretty fluffy.
But they're hardcore carb.
That is true.
Yeah.
Think of it as white bread, kind of, if you're not familiar with it.
So, yeah, now obviously the question is going to be, is this okay as a diet or is it not?
Well, if we turn to science, which we should balanced diet, you need some carbs, you need some proteins, you need some eggs, some milk, some type of bean product, vegetables anyway, in every single meal.
So the hamburger mantu diet falls pretty short in a lot of different ways because breakfast there's no carbs there.
Carbs give you energy.
That's the black coffee part, right?
Lunch, better structure, I suppose.
You've got two hamburgers there, or at least one, but the actual amount of vegetables provided by those burgers would not be enough.
And then if you're only having the white buns for dinner Well, that lacks protein and vegetables there, so not really a good choice.
But, that being said, we see this diet really helps people lose weight because it does create this energy gap where calories consumed are significantly lower than what the body needs, meaning that even we're calling it a hamburger-mantou diet.
You're not eating enough hamburger or enough mantou in your day so that you have the necessary energy gap to result in a loose weight.
But you're also looking at water loss, muscle loss, and that's the biggest problem.
Those are the biggest problems yes, muscle muscle loss being the biggest problem, because the energy intake is not enough.
You're not getting enough energy, so your body, Your body, needs food.
Your body needs energy.
So it's forced to break down the protein in the muscles to compensate for what's not there.
So essentially, people are losing water.
Oh and, by the way, the water loss.
Your body will use up stored glycogen and that's bound to large amounts of water.
And when glycogen is eaten up, when it's consumed, that water gets released and it leads to a really quick drop in weight.
So that's what people are seeing there.
But if you're using that water loss and then the muscle loss Yeah, you're seeing perhaps a little bit of weight loss in the beginning, but you're just losing water and muscle rather than losing weight.
Fat, which is your goal.
And the short sentence here is that you will gain it back really fast when you start eating properly.
And then besides that, there are actually other potential risks as well.
Blood sugar spikes, that's one.
Nutritional deficiencies, that's another risk. metabolic issues, I suppose.
If you overly rely on those bad carbs, the refined carbs yeah, you're not going to be a healthy person.
In the long run.
You're looking at problems like diabetes potentially, but that's on the far extreme end of things.
This is what I want to say about this, though.
You see these diet fads come and go on the internet like it's a trick.
I'm not a doctor.
Shortcut.
Yeah, I'm not a doctor or an expert, but I've had a ton of physical trainers over the years who have been nutritional experts, and they've always said the same thing.
There is no magic shortcut.
Eat healthy, exercise when you can, and that's what you do.
Well, both of you look very fit and nice.
So Junya, any advice?
Healthier advice.
Thank you so much for that.
You know, for me as one grown up from northern China, it's not a big problem for me to eat mental.
I think it's easy for me to follow this model, but I won't, because I think I will have a beautiful figure on the weight scale, but maybe not a beautiful shape because, like what Steve said, working out definitely matters a lot when it comes to weight loss.
And also, I think, when it comes to body conditions.
Maybe they will need to take more time off, not just only Wednesday afternoon, for them to restore.
There it is.
That brings us to the end of today's Roundtable.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on today's topics.
Leave us a comment wherever you listen to your podcast, or send us an email to roundtablepodcast at qqcom.
I'm Niu Honglin with Gao Junya and Steve.
Thank you for listening.
Bye-bye.
