How do you push through the afternoon slump?

I had these too. In my case it turned out to be the food I was eating.

I cut out the carbs from my lunch and reduced the total lunch calories to about 300. The slump is totally gone when I do this.

Good nutrition

I've already answered here about siestas and water which I swear by. But I see a lot of responses about diet. Funnily, I met my better half 14 years ago when I went to see her to sort out my diet. She was a top London nutritionist, and I not only got my diet fixed but I fell in love 😊

One of the first things I ever learned from her was about carbs and the postprandial slump. These days, interestingly, I have home-made pasta/chicken for lunch, but I think some how the high protein balances the carbs. But very often for lunch (certainly here in the UK) everyone has lots of bread sandwiches from shops that do not put much protein in them - and then everyone slumps at their desk in a postprandial crash.

In fact, the slump can mainly happen after breakfast because we all eat high sugar cereals and white bread/toast - Emily won't let me eat them now, she thinks cereal companies are the most evil on the plant 😊

She supported a lot of finance traders in the City of London, and if you looked at their trading patterns, you can see a big dip at around 10:30/11am when they all suddenly have a post-breakfast dip. Which for them is when they all go and drink coffee - another wrong answer!

I just take a power nap for 20 minutes, and I am fresh like a baby again.

Similar to everyone else, I've changed my eating/sleeping habits and consumed more coffee. At the end of the day though, I've come to realize that I can only "power through" so much. There are a lot of tasks that require a minimum level of energy and I don't have it.

I've learned to stop faking it at my desk and just let those tasks sit until I have the energy. I'll focus on lower-energy tasks (like emails, writing tweets, or brainstorming (not really thinking, just letting the mind wander)).

The answer is always coffee!

I take a 5-10 minute walk outside. The bright sunlight has a powerful effect.

coffee pushes my afternoon

I usually have a lethargic slump in the afternoon too where I feel super unproductive. I've tried taking a break with a TV show or something, but found that left me even more distracted for the rest of the day.

A nap works wonders though!

Had a slump regularly until I began limiting my carb intake in the afternoon. Switching to getting most of my calories from fat eliminated it.

I would sleep in my car lol. Powernap ftw!

I used to have a slump and it was gone after I fixed my sleep & my food

1. Food is Mood: depending on your metabolism, some food will make you sleepy (usually potato, bread, pasta, rice). Eating the equivalent in salad let's say, won't impact your energy level. Choose what you eat wisely, especially in the middle of the day.

2. Sleep is King: a good night of sleep usually gives you enough juice to go through your day. You might be tired and you just don't know it. I write more about it in this article

Good luck!

"Nap" is the correct answer.

A siesta

I have lunch for 30 mins then sit in a nice comfy seat, read the paper on my ipad for 10 mins and then have the very briefest of snoozes - usually 10 mins. Do not let it go longer as you will go into a deeper sleep and then feel groggy. 10 mins and you wake refreshed and ready for a whole afternoon. Granted, I work from home so it's easier 😊

I used to hate offices back in the 1990's - we'd all been to the pub too, and so afternoons propping our eyes open with matchsticks was a nightmare; you had to be seen by your boss, so a siesta would have almost been a sackable offence.

If I ever go back to working from an office if I start a new business, I will insist that all staff are allowed to siesta in a nice side room we'll create. Or get those sleep pods that I think Google have in their offices.

Also, I drink 4 or 5 massive glasses of water in the morning. If ever I cannot think and seem to have brain fog, I can 100% guarantee it's because I haven't had enough water that day.

I have bad slumps recently, it's definitely related to food. I'm soon going to experiment with only raw food at lunch to preserve energy levels.

Coffee doesn't help me much and may even make it worse. If I have a bad slump I just take a break, chill out then go exercise. I find there's little point in sitting at the computer when feeling this way and unable to do quality work.

I always used to feel like I'm under a slump but I realised it's cause of my VERY bad diet and sleeping schedule, so I started fixing my sleeping schedule and cut out of carbs slowly.

With better sleeping patterns and lighter food, my body worked better (apologies for not being a coffee person).

This worked out for me, I also try to keep few low energy tasks at my slump hours of the day which I can go about with without thinking too hard about.

I always get that. I decided to lean into it instead. What usually helps me is to take a 25-min power nap and sometimes have a cup of coffee after the nap. But I try to avoid becoming reliant on coffee.

First of all, you seem to have accepted this. Congratulations, this was the hardest step. Now let's focus on the easy part. :) First, take care of yourself. Avoid activities that will harm your health. Yes, if that includes hard work. Without you there is nothing. This is an important issue.

The next step is to work with people who know their job. This eases the workload. Convincing them can give you your share of the money to be made in the future. You can also give shares to people you trust more. But I want you to know that you can't do this alone. :)

You have to find someone to do the things you're struggling with. It could be an employee, a partner, or a friend.

Nap or Walk. Nothing crazy.

I go for a walk or workout. That will reenergize you and that doesn't work then take a cold shower

I have been using the Wim Hof breathing method for over a year now, this has been extremely helpful in feeling like I hit the 'reset' button. I usually do this after lunch with some light stretching.

https://www.wimhofmethod.com/breathing-exercises

I hug the cat!

Chewing some extra strength gum , a pilot friend of mine recommended it

It's definitely the carbs for lunch IMO.

However, a nice walk in the park next to the office and coffee seems to do the trick for me.

I’ve found that exercising for 30+ minutes is a healthy way to get energized again. It’s great for getting my mind off of whatever the current problem I’m trying to solve is, it’s healthy, and I come back energized and ready to finish my work day after.

Pick high-energy carbs;
Snack wisely;
Choose low-fat;
Don’t overdo sugar

it's great that you are at least tracking what you are doing and where you are losing your time. That's a good first step. if you plan the week / day in advance and commit to something meaningful in those times of the day then having it on the calendar is more likely to get you to do it. 2.

We built Track, which we just launched publicly https://www.producthunt.com/posts/track-4, and in our video I spoke about how we've designed it so people can remain focused and in flow

Walk.

Seriously. Get up away from your desk, put your headphones on and go for a half hour walk.

It makes me feel 10x better. My slump is between 2:30-3:30, so I take half an hour to walk around my neighborhood.

Good question. I think it is physiological, it is a part of general energy management, and depends STRONGLY on sleep. Food types and meals are part of energy management, you just have to be smart, and on the light side, apples and nuts are good to sustain working hours, large meals compounded by poor sleep can send me into a coma. Light exercise like slow yoga or walking outside works well if you detect incoming grogginess.
Managing well the above and I'm OK. If the slump emerges anyway I take it easy, I ride it by doing light work or not working at all, should be gone in 30', per my assumption it is physiology, my body needs downtime, why fight it?

I am narcoleptic so this is far more natural for me but it's critical to understand that micro nap (15-25' directly in your desk not in a bed) are overpowered. I do 3 to 4 per day. Its like a cheat code.

In the 'slump period', I find it better to just work on things which don't really require much effort. So I'll start of with intensive tasks like programming in the morning and if I hit an afternoon slump, I'll respond to emails and post on twitter instead as it requires less effort.

Agree with the people who say it depends on food.

I eat them only after I do the most important work in the morning (whether it's planning or development / marketing).

For the first two or three hours, I'm staying focused on the highest priorities I set for myself previously. Then I have breakfast and back to work until 2-3 pm. When it comes the moment when you start to be distracted by various unnecessary articles and discussions (in the worst case - yt or some series). In this case, I take a book and read until new ideas are generated while reading or until I get the charge of motivation and inspiration enough to keep working.

With Turkish coffee 😍

As someone who suffers from this a lot, I'll offer my own approach.

1. Do not eat a carb heavy lunch, the lighter the better.
2. Once finished eating, get up from your desk, take a quick walk, get outside, or even just stand up for a couple of minutes and look out the window!

Getting a good night's sleep is, of course, the best thing possible.

Hey Sophia,

for me, this depends a lot on what I ate. Something "heavy" usually makes me sleepy, just like you've described. I often eat smaller junks of my food around the clock, rather than at noon. If the tiredness really catches up to you, perhaps it's possible for you to give in and take a longer break. Listening to your body and resting for some time can make you more efficient afterward. I also like to change locations a lot, when possible.

Ah, the infamous afternoon slump. You know it's coming, and you make plans to fight it… until you're actually in it. Suddenly, you can't remember why you thought a second cup of coffee would be a good idea, or how to make that pomodoro timer work.

If you're like us, the afternoon slump is a real struggle, and we've tried everything from jamming our earphones in, complete with a playlist of energizing music, to taking a short nap. Here's what we've found works best:

First, we have our go-to list of energizing foods—nuts and berries are our favorites. We pack them all into little baggies (it doesn't take much) and grab one when we need a boost.

Second, if we're really feeling it and want to take a quick power nap at our desk (or under it), we set up one of those pomodoro timers for 20 minutes. If someone walks in on us while we're napping (we work in an office building with open cubicles), that person gets recruited as our personal alarm clock! We always make sure to ask other people first whether they mind being our alarm clock before we start setting up the timer.

60 minutes seems like a lot. should be different for everybody though.

i don't really have any advice per se but i can tell you what i do when i'm in a slump:

• context change: i have multiple projects, therefore if im stuck on one, i switch. otherwise i go bananas
• doing some exercise (a few pushups or squats work for me. not more than 5-10 mins)
• meditating for a few minutes to clear the clutter
• as a last resort a 20 minute nap

this is not a todo list, i usually just pick one or two. if nothing helps your body is maybe trying to tell you something? (boredom, health issues, etc)
again; not advice; this is my thought process i go through when there's something out of order.

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Even though, there are a lot of comments I want to add my secret to push through the afternoon slump. -> Brushing my teeths after lunch (after a walk outside). These gives me the same mental kickstart as in the morning and I am ready to continue work.

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Oh fuck I did not know this was a thing, I thought it was just me. thank you guys for the potential solutions.

For me, it helps if I eat very lightly during the day. Or even better, if I do not eat at all and only have liquids (tea, water) until the end of a workday. I also never have a coffee because I figure out it can have the opposite effect.

How I typically do it: espresso

How I should do it: push-ups. Works every time

Good questions and conversation.

1. Yes, consistently.
2. I listen to my body. Sometimes I'll meditate for 30~ minutes. Maybe I'll go for a walk. I definitely drink a lot of water. Also, if I'm not hungry, I won't eat lunch until 2, 3 or 4 pm.

Sometimes I think my anticipation of a slump makes me slump. I've felt this is more true during the pandemic times.

Here are some questions I ask myself whenever I go through something similar:

What am I doing before 1:30pm? What am I having for Lunch? How much sleep did I get?

Over the years I learned to have a lightweight lunch so that my body doesn’t waste its energy trying to digest the lunch. I’ve also learned to pay attention to the amount of sugar I consume, because it kills my body’s energy.

I’ve learned that too much coffee kills my ability to think clearly as well.

I don't have one for years, I switched to whole food plant-based a few years ago and lost around 65 pounds. The afternoon slump is caused by diet, the only way to remove it is change what you eat.

If you don't want to switch your diet to something very different than what you usually eat, going for a light lunch with just a sandwich should work. It its there with a light sandwich meal, try to switch to whole bread.

Two things I do to fight the slump ✊ 😆:

• Delay my coffee until 10/11am
• Exercise

Yes, I play, 2k or watch youtube unapologetically. Take time off to do something else. Walk around the building. Cook some good food or order out. Then put together that playlist and get back in the zone.

1. Have a quick chat with the most energetic team member.
2. Write your WHY on a small piece of paper. Stare at it for a few seconds.

It worked for me.

The 3 pm slump happens to me every day and I become pretty unfocused.... around that time I find myself procrastinating. This is the perfect time to take a 30 minute walk with a podcast and I feel a lot better afterwards!

If I feel that way I just do something else. That's why I chose this lifestyle.

• Have a list of do and identify the most important tasks for the day, nothing should be in your mind empty it completely in your To-dos(prep this in the morning or after you daily standup) 📝
• Eat light rather than heavy like salad with SOME carbs(bread) 🥗
• One task at a done don’t try to multi task 🔍
• Avoid getting into longer conversations unless its important to the task 🙊
• Don’t watch videos / listen to music they take away your attention 💪
• Open the window for some cold air to freshen yourself 🪟
• Be aware of time so that you can close a task and keep it for tomorrow if needed.
• Once you are done with a task treat yourself with a short break before moving on to another task ⏳
• Concisely say to yourself your cut off time is x and keep to it 🙅‍♂️
• When its cut-off time close that laptop and go live your earnings 💃

I used to have a strong slump in France, I was eating at 12 and since I adopted the Spanish schedule, lunch at 2 PM or 3 PM I became much more productive.

The whole morning is bigger, 9 AM to 2/3 PM so you can really do a lot. And I can't explain it but then I get the energy to work until 7/8 PM really easily. As well, it gives me more stamina throughout the week.

Not sure if that helped, but I also stopped drinking coffee completely

The answer is a strong coffee!

YES!
Practical advice, but I usually keep my lunch pretty light to avoid it. Sometimes I even replace lunch with some Huel protein shake and that does the trick.

If you drink coffee, a small espresso helps. I guess that's why Italians do it.

I hated lunch breaks when working in an office. You'd go someplace to eat at noon, finish by 1 PM, and return to the office. Then really start work around 4 PM, always ending up in overtime because people wasted 3-4 hours just because digestion took its toll.

"Several research groups have demonstrated how blood flow to the tract increases gradually and markedly after a meal, and more so after a big meal than after a small one. The increase in blood flow reaches its maximum after 20-40 minutes and lasts for 1.5-2 hours"

Easy - coffee! :)

I normally jump into the virtual office in the WBE Space and start a work session. Most of the times some members will join and we use the pomodoro timer to stay focus!

It could be diet or sleep or distractions in your environment Sophia. It could be that this is just your time of the day where you are least productive. Unless its conflicting with other stuff in your life, maybe just re-arrange your schedule to embrace it.

Caffeine, my friend. Caffeine and lots of it.

A big one is what you eat as mentioned. I like to go outside and get some sun and get the blood flowing.

Coffee is always good and maybe some push-ups. I like to play a video game to reset my mind.

I love working in blocks and I try not to force it. The biggest driver for getting shit done is obsession or passion, I try to give myself time to find something to obsess over

I get this too! Sometimes I try to fight it (but it never really works out) and sometimes I just lean into it and spend this time exercising, reading or taking a nap. I think someone also mentioned diet which may be a big issue. Maybe try having a lighter lunch with less carbs.

Oh Sophia, how well I know your situation! I've had the exact same issue. Want to know what fixed it? Going to bed and waking up at the exact same time every day. The issue you're experiencing is most likely due to an inconsistent sleep routine. It messes up your circadian rhythm and can be the cause of a bunch of nasty side effects. My advice is to engineer a daily routine. It really helped me a lot. When you know how your day is going to look like, what you'll be doing, for how long you'll be doing them, and when... you'll really save up a LOT of energy and get into flow states far more easily.

I definitely have an inevitable and unshakable slump between about 2:00 - 4:00 pm. So, I section off that time to either go for a walk, run some errands, make any calls I need to make, or answer e-mails...that's essentially the time slot I reserve to complete all the more passive tasks that don't require my full concentration.

That being said, it's a lot easier to do this when you're self-employed, which, might not be forever. So, I'd be super keen to know how people push through it - especially people who, for example, work in an office and have no choice but to keep going.