Afternoon Stimulation
 

not sure if I'm just getting old, the clocks have changed, don't eat breakfast or just working too hard and around the clock, but lately I'm pretty tired at 3PM these days. Start work at 7AM and work at least 6 days a week.

If I have a coffee at 3, I'm up all night. Even though I only would have about 1 Red Bull a month in the past, they don't seem to do much for me anymore.

Afternoon walk? Afternoon nap? Other stimulants? Eat breakfast?

Any thoughts?

Naps rule.

One of the advantages of working at home and having a wife on maternity and kids who nap in the afternoon is... um, well, if I finish that sentence I'll be in trouble :)

i have heard a little 20min nap helps
have you tried the 5hr stuff? maybe that wont keep you up all nite

My crash is at 2:00PM. You could set your watch by it. Coffee is the only thing that works for me...

Maybe you can drink less, or have a cup at 2:00 so it will kick in. It shouldn't take 8 hours for it to get out of your system.

Jumping jacks?

Are you staying hydrated? Di-hydrogen Oxide might be very helpful. I am not a big water drinker, but from what I have read it seems that a lot of afternoon fatigue is tied to lack of hydration.

Have you ever tried a morning exercise routine?

Getting my eyes away from the computer in the afternoon helps me too. I do think scrolling pelican works my eyes very hard, and as a result makes my eyes feel heavy and tired by the time 2 PM rolls around.

I've gotten into the habit of working out around 2:00 (after lunch has digested somewhat). I no longer need my afternoon coffee.

I had to look and see if I wrote that. :eek:

Naps rule! I crash at 3 pm. The dogs get me up anywhere from 5 am to 7 am. I do chores, head to the workshop to get a few things done and eat lunch around 1 or 2. By 3 I'm ready for a hlf hour to hour nap. Then I'm good to go until around midnight. This is the same routine even if I have a gig that will get me home around 2:30 a.m.

Methamphetamines are popular. Cocaine wears off, allowing you to sleep later.

Halloween candy works pretty well.

The hydration thing is worth a try. A half-cup of coffee can't hurt, after lunch.

Or you could drink a non-caffeinated tea. That would probably do the trick. Perk you up, with no caffeine.

Or, as I say, methamphetamines are practically on every streetcorner. I'm kidding. Of course.

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.
Adelle Davis (1904 - 1974)

Think of your body as a machine. Consider what you eat as fuel.

A big breakfast lights off your metabolism and fuels you up to charge into the day.

A lighter lunch gets you to the end of your work time without running out of gas.

An even lighter dinner (before 7:00 PM) sustains enough energy to see you through your evening.

Any left over calories when you turn in will be stored as fat while you sleep.

We all differ but chances are that if you try this routine you'll need no nap.

I'd take a look at how much sugar your consuming at lunch time. Barring any events like jet-lag, as I've gotten older I've found that I'm pretty sensitive to the amount of sugar that I ingest. I'm not diabetic, but my blood sugar does spike up and then down before settling at a "normal" level. One of the swings makes me crash.

For example, my lunches are usually some unsalted or lightly salted nuts, some tomatoes, carrots and cucumber slices. If I snack on candy or have a meal with lots of sugar (like b-b-q sauce) I get sleepy around 2. If I skip that and keep to low sugar snacks and fresh fruit I don't have any problems.

BTW, I also avoid caffeine. I don't drink any coffee, tea or colas since I usually get sleepy when they wear off. If I don't drink them, there's no let-down. Since I usually work out for about 90 minutes in the morning when I wake up before 5:00, I never need any additional stimulants to help me wake up in the morning. The flip side though is that I'm usually pretty worthless by 10:00 PM.

I rub one out between two and three, seems to do the trick...

It's my understanding that balancing sugar and protein intake properly allows protein to meter sugar into the bloodstream rather than excess sugar flooding in, causing a sugar energy high followed by a crash.

My $.02, Shauny


1. Excercise in the AM.

2. Make Breakfast the biggest meal of the day, instead of dinner.

3. After you drink coffee, chase it with LOTS of water for a few hours after. The buzz will be much bigger, but when it goes away you don't crash so bad.

What's for breakfast?



Shauny? Are you saying I should get checked? and uh, what's for breakfast?

whether it's the best 30 seconds of her life, or of mine between 3:00 and 3:01, still want to go to sleep soon after.:D

Good advice John. I'm hyper-conscious about refined sugar and think I have a fairly low sugar level on average, though I was eating 3-5 pints of Häagen-Dazs a week over the summer. Cut that out in Sept. Maybe I should bring it back?

I have been thinking of biking in the mornings, just got out all my old gear. I do need to do something.

from a old guy here, almost 61.

way back in the dark ages I started that real tired after lunch routine, naps would work usually about 20 minutes seemed to do it but some days I didn't get the time to do a nap and I started getting patients telling me I was sleeping with my eyes open. Gig up!!

So I had to do something else, I now take one panax ginseng capsule in the morning with my couple cups of strong coffee. I usually go home for lunch and have another cup of coffee and I blast thru that sleepie time like its not there plus the bonus is I still don't take viagra, thats all works mighty fine.

I feel pretty good with 6-7 hours sleep and if I get more than 8, the mack truck just parked on me.