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If I’m really feeling out of it I’ll take a quick nap. I set my timer for 13 min and completely eliminate light (usually by putting something over my face). Obviously easier when WFH but I’ve done it in office if I can find an empty room that nobody will think to enter. These naps are life savers, I feel completely refreshed afterwards. If you don’t want to take a nap, I’d go the opposite route— my heart-rate raising activity. I bought a jump rope just for this purpose and will do a couple min at a a time. Brisk walks are good too.
I’ve tried taking a quick nap but logistics are difficult.
Jump rope is an interesting idea.
Rail a fat line right off your rig with your VP and make the interns watch
Will try next week and revert with feedback
Worked but not repeatable as generally frowned upon by CIO.
Thx for the follow-up. CIO needs to take a trip to Tulum and then circle-back
WSO
Not even kidding about this for me. Sometimes, I just need to get away from the thing I'm looking at, especially if I've been doing a lot of development work for my team or busywork, Sometimes even a few minutes away to step back can help see the quality of your work before continuing
Especially after a heavy lunch ooof. I am not an expert on anything of this nature, but sometimes I suspect it has something to do with oxidative stress because taking antioxidants helps massively. I usually take NAC after a big meal and it's quite helpful in clearing the brain fog. Aside from that, I often take a quercetin/DAO mix before meals to help with my histamine issues. This also helps quite a bit for me. An important thing you can do is get a good nights sleep whatever that means to you. Since playing around with NAC in particular, I'm able to clear afternoon brain fog within 20 minutes usually.
It's actually much simpler than that. After a heavy lunch, your stomach uses more energy to digest the food. Less blood is sent to the brain, which makes you tired.
Looking into this, will update.
If you're based in NYC and in the office, would suggest going for a walk. My bank was based in midtown and I used to sneak out to 5th Avenue / central park east to kill time. It's especially effective in the summer / spring when it's warm out and you don't need to put a coat / scarf on (so people aren't asking questions about where you're going. If they do ask questions, just say you're going to grab coffee). People can say what they want about Manhattan, but it's very walkable and I personally killed a lot of down time exploring the city.
Stop drinking caffeine and it will go away. When you load up on coffee in the morning the caffeine starts to fade around the 6 hour mark (coffee has a half life of roughly 5-6 hours) so around 2/3pm people tend to get huge slumps from the withdrawal and need more to continue their day.
This - also would opt for a large breakfast and perhaps skip lunch / light lunch with your FIRST coffee of the day being after lunch. Works like a charm for me
Agree with this. Just gotta be careful to try and not consume too much coffee later in the day because it will result in another slump at night and affect sleep later on. A lighter lunch will definitely help with the afternoon slump
How do you define light lunch? I tried salads but end up hungry 2 hours later.
Do you stick to salads for lunch?
I personally do not. Ever since I quit caffeine entirely and alcohol I no longer get the afternoon slumps. With that being said, I would not eat a plate of pasta for example but I normally do not have salads.
Absolutely not - salads do nothing to satiate my hunger, they are really just empty calories and good if you’re trying to cut. Eat protein heavy snacks like beef jerky / Greek yogurt with a normal sandwich (none of that French hoagie and two slices of roast beef nonsense). Standard bakery slices of bread, a lot of turkey breast and other condiments. Finally if I’m still a little hungry, I’ll have a handful or two of trail mix - nuts are really satisfying and if there are little M&Ms it feels like a treat. Down a 16 oz bottle of water and you’re good to go. (Cut out chips, fries, cookies, juice/smoothies etc. - they just turn to straight sugar in your blood and cause you to slump after the initial energy burst)
Caffeine helps for sure, but, as mentioned above, you have to be strategic with caffeine. First, evaluate the circumstances that you wake up into. Are you waking up and then rolling into excel or a meeting? A huge lever for me is trying to wake up ~90 minutes before being online (of course days where this is not feasible given late nights the night prior) and immediately going out outside for a walk with a caffeinated drink (200mg). Walk will be ~25/30 minutes just as a way to warm up my brain. If curious, I would recommend taking some time to learn about the benefits of direct sunlight exposure and walking (optic flow) for optimal brain activation. Come back, quick shower with a fantasy podcast, and then dive in. Assuming this all wraps up by 8:30/8:45, I'll look to re-up on the caffeine around 12-1pm. For myself, I'll have another 200mg drink. The key here is to really ensure that you are not consuming large meals and if you are then be weary of your macronutrient composition of this meal. Keep your protein and fats high. If you want an example of what I'll have, it's usually black coffee (cold brew), water, green juice (one of those vegetable powders mixed with water and lemon juice for micronutrients and satiation), and then a protein shake. The second caffeinated drink I really enjoy because I'll mix cold brew concentrate with 2 pure protein shakes (30g protein per shake) and it makes for a energy rich, high protein cocktail. Meal wise, vegetables and meat. I try to stay away from carbs till the evening / pre-workout. The reason being that carbs notoriously 1) cause oxidative stress 2) serotonergic activity is up regulated and is hormonally communicating the sense of lethargy and just wanting to sink into your couch. If you do all of the above with adequate hydration, I think you should be in a strong position to power through. As mentioned, if you're at the desk the entire morning and afternoon, pop out for a 20 minute walk. I'd also recommend when "working" (ie grinding on a deck, model, NOT meetings) try to engage in 90 minute cycles. Look up ultradian cycles if you're interested. Follow this with 15 minutes of NSDR (non sleep deep rest, IE just unwinding and letting your brain to pause for a moment). The reason I mention this is because it's incredibly helpful to increase productivity and manage stress and accumulated fatigue.
I really suggest everyone, independent of your interest in science, looks into Andrew Huberman's podcast. Absolutely riveting content for those who are interested in neuroscience but also incredibly relevant for those looking to optimize decision making throughout the day.
Honestly would suggest that you work standing up (if there’s a standing desk, which almost every office has one now). Really helped kick out the sleepiness.
A light lunch and then a triple shot of espresso. Try to stay standing for the next hour because if I sit I’m immediately tired.
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